Layered
by Captain Ryder
Summary: Escaped from the hospital, Belle has to learn how to blend into Storybrooke while she retains all of her memories. But neither Mr. Gold or Belle know exactly what to do now that they found each other. Sequel to Imprisonment.
1. Chapter 1

Once Upon a Time and all the characters therein are not mine, sadly.

Takes place just after **The Stable Boy** and diverges from the show canon from there. And this is a sequel to my story '_Imprisonment'_, and will make more sense if that one is read first. Enjoy!

_Chapter 1_

Belle sat on her bed, knees pulled to her chest. Not that bed was a really great description; it was more a slab of concrete with a thin mattress over top of it, but it was better than the pile of dirty straw she had in the Queens dungeons. Of course, she had just recently been able to even make her mind hold onto even that small a distinction.

She had felt the magic at work as the real world dissolved around her, and was replaced by this world created by the Queen. Her stone dungeon was replaced by white padded walls, and Hunter was nowhere to be seen. Belle felt his loss, and wished that he was still with her.

At first things had been a lot worse. Belle had been only slightly aware of time passing, and all she could do was stare at these four same walls. Days and months slipped away without her realizing it, and her mind seemed to be in a constant state of haze, preventing her from thinking clearly about anything for more than a minute. In one of her few moments of clarity, Belle wondered if it would have been this bad if she had been able to pull herself out of her depression and guilt over Rumplestiltskin's death before the curse was cast.

Because she remembered the other world, the real world, the curse was even more difficult to deal with. It was hard to have two conflicting realities in her head, each warring against each other to make her think that the one was real and the other fake. To complicate it even further, she had a third set of information in her mind that she couldn't grasp. It remained on the edge of her brain like a memory that wouldn't come back. The curse kept her from going completely mad, but it also kept her on the brink madness.

One day, things changed. The heavy fog cleared slightly from her mind, allowing her to focus more easily, but it was still difficult to punch through the complications of her mind. But more importantly, Belle could feel the blanket of magic that had been smothering her lift. It was still there, but not as oppressive and overbearing. She took a deep breath for what felt like the first time in years.

While she couldn't quite clear all the cobwebs out of her mind, it was much easier to focus her mind on a few things that got her attention. Alone in her room, she soon realized the pattern her life had taken. She would hear a set of footsteps leading to her room at what she assumed was morning, midday and evening. Each time, a tray of food was pushed into her room through a slot in the bottom of the door. A little while after each delivery, someone would come and wait for her to push the empty trays back out the door, which she always did. Even though she had fought through some of the haze, she hadn't got through enough to make herself truly care about life outside her cell.

After a while of listening, Belle was able to distinguish the different sets of footsteps that came to her door. She had figured out that there were only ever two people down here, a man a woman. It was usually the sound of the woman's high heels that brought the meals to her cell. Belle tried to make herself feel glad that she was gathering information about this place, but it wasn't coming.

The conflicting information in her mind was more difficult to deal with, and her first attempts to deal with it left her head pounding. One time, while her head felt like it was being hacked away by dwarves, Belle made the discovery of how she could deal with the information. She had been trying to distract herself from her headache by remembering all the stories she had read and loved. She was thinking about a book she had read about a boy trying to trap fairies, when she had the thought that the information she had in her head about books seemed more real than anything else at the moment. This had given her pause for a second; what if she could make her mind think that she had simply read everything about this world in a book?

It was slow and often frustrating work. Belle had to consciously think of every single bit of knowledge the curse gave her, and file it away into different chapters of her imaginary book. Most everything in her head was basic, useless facts, such as the town name, the state and the country she was in. She knew all about the president, the way the government worked and the laws. She knew about electricity and cars, and everything else she would have needed if she wasn't locked away from it all. The only missing parts of her knowledge were who she was in the world, and who everyone else was too. Belle wondered if this had to do with the fact that Rumplestiltskins magic had protected her memories.

The third set of information in her head, the one she hadn't been able to get before, was more difficult to deal with. It had taken her some time to figure out what the information even was, but when she did, she knew that it wasn't anything she was supposed to know. It seemed like the magic that had created this town had gotten into her mind a little bit, and now she knew details about the curse that she was sure no one but the Queen knew.

She knew the purpose of the curse was to take away everyone's memories and happiness, leaving them trapped her forever. She knew that the curse had stopped time and that it was impossible for anyone to leave this little town. She knew the price the curse had demanded to be cast, and if she wasn't living in this world right now, she wouldn't have believed the Queen could actually do it.

It had taken more effort to make that information present itself like a book, but soon she had done it. The extra information in her head was packed away like a story book, and Belle felt like she had left the cliff edge of insanity behind. Most of the time.

Despite all her efforts, Belle still thought she was going crazy sometimes. It happened when she thought she heard Rumplestiltskins voice once or twice. It was faint, and sounded different from the voice she knew, but it was distinctively his. At first, Belle had thought she was dreaming; it wouldn't be the first time she had seen or heard him in her dreams. The second time it had happened, she had been wide awake which is why she thought she might be losing her mind. She always fought away those thoughts; she couldn't afford to go crazy now. So whenever she thought she heard his voice, she slammed her hands over her ears.

Then, in one second, everything changed. It was a day like any other. Belle was trying to concentrate on something but the curse was fighting her. She had already gotten her midday meal, so she was surprised to hear the sound of heels clicking on stone outside of her door. In her muddled up brain, Belle realized that they weren't the regular steps. The hatch at the top of the door opened, which she thought was off because the nurse had only done that when Belle hadn't sent the trays back soon enough. Slightly curious, Belle looked up and froze.

Staring at her from the door, with a wicked grin, was the Queen. _Regina, the mayor of Storybrooke, _her mind corrected, giving her the first information she had about anyone in this world. That simple piece of information seemed to awaken something deep inside. Belle suddenly vividly remembered everything this woman had done to her, to Hunter and to everyone in their entire world. Anger burned hot through her veins, rushing along with her blood. Regina closed the hatch and walked away.

Belle's heart beat furiously as if she had just run a marathon. The anger had burned away any last trace of the cloud in her mind, allowing her to think clearly and freely for the first time in far too long. The different realities cemented in her mind, falling into place as the books she had made them. Belle smiled; while she was still in this cell, she was more free than she had been since she left home.

With her sudden clarity, everything that she hadn't been able to think about came crashing down on her. She couldn't believe that she had spent who knows how long just going along with this curse, not caring about anything or anyone. She felt guilty as she thought about Hunter; she had promised him that she would get him out, and all she had done was wallow around in her cell. She was angry with herself for not doing anything to escape before, and vowed that that would change.

In this world, Regina was at a clear disadvantage; there was no magic here. This meant that this prison of stone was just that, stone. If she could clear that, there would be no magic to stop her.

She got off the bed and began to walk around her cell, trying to figure out how to get through the stone. She went over and tested the strength of the grid over the windows and found that the metal grid didn't end at the edge of the cement, but was sunk down into it making them impossible to open. But there was something of interest, a crack that ran parallel to the window edge for about half of its length and up the side a little ways. Belle wondered how it had gotten there, and then she remembered the earthquake weeks ago, it must have cracked the walls of her prison.

She brushed her fingers along it and thought. It was in just the right position that if she dug enough away around the window edges, she could possibly open the window and get out. But now the question was how to dig it? She sat on her bed and made plans, her fingers tracing them in the air.

Evening came, and with it her meal. A silver tray with a bowl of soup and utensils was pushed through the grate in the floor. Belle smiled, it was perfect. She bent down and picked up the tray, and then smashed it down with all her strength while she gave a shriek of fright. She heard the footsteps of the nurse hurrying back and a key going into the lock of the door. Moving quickly, she grabbed several pieces of the broken ceramic as well as the knife and shoved them under her mattress. She jumped up onto the bed and grabbed her knees and began rocking back and forth as the door opened.

"What happened?" the nurse barked. Peeking through the curtain of her hair, Belle looked behind the nurse into the hallway. The second person was behind her, a larger man with long unkempt hair. And while he was larger, he didn't look that healthy or all there mentally. Belle thought that he wasn't going to be much of a threat.

"It fell. It scared me." Belle said, making her voice as pathetic and empty as she could. She needed the nurse to believe that she wasn't any different than she had been for the past few weeks. With a sigh of disgust, the nurse began to pick up the broken pieces.

"You!" she ordered the man, "Bring that mop in here!" Thickly, the man did as commanded. Soon, the mess was cleaned up and the nurse was exiting the room.

"You are not getting anymore. You'll have to wait for the morning." Belle nodded like the good little brain dead patient she was supposed to be. After the door closed, she gave herself a few minutes before jumping off her bed and pulling out her prizes. She knew they wouldn't last her for very long, but she would come to that problem when she faced it.

Using the knife, she cut off a small piece of material from the bottom of her mattress. She warped the fabric around her hand and then grabbed one of the ceramic pieces and started to hack away at the stone.

It took her a long time to break enough of the cement away to pry open the window, but she didn't notice the passing of time. It was slow work as she had to be careful to always listen for footsteps and never give the nurse reason to look into her room. The pieces of the bowl had been ground to powder within a few hours, but the knife held out for much longer. She didn't want to risk breaking another bowl and making the nurse come in, so she swapped the knife out for a new one after a few days. Belle wondered who the nurse was and what affect the curse had on her to make her unable to see the horrible condition the utensil was in.

While she dug, she planned on what she was going to do when free. She knew that she wouldn't fit into the town right away; she would need time to learn about everyone there before she tried to integrate herself into the new world. She figured that she could hide out in the woods and would use all the things that Hunter had taught her to survive. She assumed there would be woods here, as there were forests everywhere in the old world. If there wasn't, well she would deal with it once she got out. She also wanted to find Hunter, and find a way to make him remember somehow. She would need an ally in this world, and her best friend was the obvious choice. And once she helped him to remember, they would help break this curse whatever it took, and the Queen would pay.

Finally, the day came when she had dug enough away to open the window. With bruised and bloody fingers, Belle pried it open. She looked out the window, and sank down onto the bed, her head in her hands in anger and disgust. Outside of the window was a ledge of concrete that was angled upwards, making it so the windows wouldn't be seen on the outside of the building. They were angled to steep and it was too narrow to climb out of.

Belle wanted to scream. It wasn't fair that she had worked so hard and so long for freedom to be denied when it was at her fingertips. She looked up at it and shook her head; from in here, it even looked like she could have gotten out.

She froze as this thought settled into her mind. Maybe she could still do this. What if she didn't need to get out through the window, but only make it look like she had?

When the next meal came she ate quickly and prepared herself. She heard returning footsteps to collect the tray and she got up and stood near the door so that she wouldn't be seen and gripped the tray tightly. She would only have one shot at this, and this time, the daily routine was working towards Belle's advantage.

The knock on the door came, signally her to pass the tray back through the doors. She heard the nurse growl in frustration and knock again. Belle didn't move, didn't breathe in fear that it would give her away. The hatch in the door opened, and Belle heard the nurse gasp in surprise to see the carefully staged open window.

The key scrapped across the metal door as the nurse tried to open it in panic while muttering some choice words. The door swung open and the nurse took a step inside, just enough for Belle to swing the tray like a club and smash the nurse in the face. The woman crumpled to the floor, her nose broken and blood gushing out of it. Belle felt regret, but it had to be done. She pulled the unconscious women further into the cell, and then exited, locking the door behind her. She kept the keys clutched in her hand as her only weapon.

She ran down the hallway and came into a small room with a desk. The second person, the man, was nowhere to be seen, and Belle let out a sigh of relief. Stairs led upwards to a main floor, according to writing on the wall.

She ran up the stairs and paused at the door, trying to hear anything beyond it. She couldn't. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves. She pushed it open a crack and peered out. She couldn't see anyone there, so she pushed it all the way open. Nothing happened, and no one saw her.

Closing it quietly, she began to walk away. It appeared to be mid-day, and the bright light made her blink after so much time in semi darkness. From the knowledge in her mind, Belle knew that if she didn't get some different clothes, she would stick out like a frog in armor when she left the hosptial.

Carefully walking along the hospitals hallways, Belle took in everything around her. Luckily no one seemed to pay her much attention as most everyone seemed more interested in a woman near the end of the hall.A small crowd had gathered around her, who looked more lost and dishevelled than Belle did. Belle didn't know who she was, but she silently thanked her for the distraction.

She saw a man exit a room that said BREAK ROOM and Belle quickly ducked inside. She breathed in relief in the empty room that had cubbies stuffed with normal clothes. She began to ruffle through them quickly and pulled out some clothes she thought would fit her.

She shed the hospital gown and pulled on a pair of jeans that fit her snuggly, a blue V-neck shirt and running shoes. She grabbed a brown leather jacket and pulled it on over her shoulders. Looking in a mirror, she tried to do something to her hair to make it look like she hadn't just escaped a hospital. When she was done, she studied her reflection for a minute to make sure everything was alright. While it was something she would never wear at home, her mind told her that this was a proper outfit.

But the outfit was put from her mind when she saw the lines on her skin underneath her slightly raised shirt. They were just visible beyond the edge of her shirt, but when she pulled the fabric back it exposed many more. Her skin was marked with an assortment of faded scars that were hard to see if you didn't look closely enough. She shuddered as she ran a hand over her skin, certain that these scars hadn't been there back in her real world, though she had no problem remembering where each and every one had come from and the certain that there were more under the rest of her clothes. She pushed the memories of her torture aside, she couldn't deal with that right now, she had to escape.

She peered out of the door to make sure that everyone was still focused elsewhere. She exited the room quickly, and then forced herself to walk out of the hospital calmly.

Belle walked down the street, heart racing. She was afraid that she may run into Regina at any moment. She had to get away. She saw a forest near the edge of town, but she would have to walk the entire length of it to get there. She forced herself to be calm and act like this was normal, and not look or jump at every little thing that she passed.

She had been walking for several minutes now with no one giving her a second look, and she began to relax slightly. She was well away from the busiest part of town now, but there was still some distance to go. She was surprised by the size of the town, it hadn't seemed like such a far distance from the hospital to the forest. But then again it did have to hold an entire world.

She was getting closer to the forest and would be there in just a minute or two when she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye that made her pause. Or rather, she thought she had seen _someone_. Her feet turned on their own accord to follow the figure she had seen slip behind a corner, even though her mind was screaming at her that it wasn't possible and she was wasting precious time. She ignored it, far too curious to know why she was feeling this strange pull to listen to logic.

Her heart was racing in her chest, and she felt like she couldn't breathe. It felt like her body instinctively knew how important this was, but her mind was still trying to figure it out. She couldn't let this person get away though she had no idea why it was so important. She broke into a jog after she rounded the corner of the building and saw the figure turn another corner into a back ally.

She ran into the ally and doubled over in pain as something connected with her stomach, dropping her to her knees.

"Following me is not a good idea." A voice, _his _voice said darkly. All it took was a second for Belle to recognize his familiar drawl, even though it was slightly different than the last time she had clearly heard it. It was deeper and less maniacal, more human.

She looked up at him and couldn't believe her eyes. Like his voice, he looked different too. Instead of the greenish gold skin she was used to, his face was pale and worn with lines. His hair was straight instead of curly, and he was wearing a black suit, not colorful leather. His hands rested on a cane which she assumed was what hit her.

Everything about him looked different, except his eyes. Yes, they were physically different, but the look behind them was the same. In all the ways that mattered, they were the eyes she had grown to look for in her dreams, and they were looking at her in stunned disbelief as she slowly rose from the ground. His mouth hung open and it looked like he had forgotten how to breathe. Belle assumed that she looked pretty much the same.

"_Belle_?" Rumplestiltskin breathed out quietly.

**AN:**_ I just wanted to say a quick sorry to all those that waited so long for this story. And thanks for reading this one too. I haven't finished the story all the way through yet, but I'm planning on uploading once a week, and I do have the first few chapters written so that should give me some more time to finish it all. I hope you like it, and reviews are greatly appreciated!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Happy OUAT Sunday everyone! Magic is coming!**

_Chapter 2_

Mr. Gold was having a truly fantastic day. All of his plans were running smoothly, give or take the few little bumps that were easy enough to short through. Granted, Regina was mad at him at the moment, but that didn't bother Gold at all. In fact, he almost enjoyed having _Her Majesty _irritated with him.

He had turned a corner to walk down the street to his shop, his limp making it slow going, when he noticed someone following him. Well, noticed wasn't the right word, more like felt it. Being alive for all the years that he had, it had given him the ability to know when he was being followed, even when he didn't have his magic. And it wasn't like the person was being very subtle about it.

"Well," He thought to himself, "This makes for an interesting change." Deciding that he wanted to know why this person was following him, as well as possibly teaching them a little lesson, he quickly ducked into a back alley and listened to the approaching footsteps.

The person rounded the corner and he swept his cane out, connecting it to the person's stomach. The person, a woman, doubled over in pain. Calmly, he set his cane back on the ground and rested his hands on it.

The woman's back was too him, and all he could see was a mass of curly brown hair. "Following me is not a good idea." He warned, waiting for the woman to look at him before he continued with his object lesson. His voiced caused the woman to look at him, and he froze in disbelief. She stood slowly and looked at him like one would a ghost. All Gold could do was gape. He couldn't believe it.

"Belle?" the name escaped his lips without him realizing it. Aside from breathing a little heavier than normal and being paler than he remembered, she looked like she could have just stepped out on any day for any old reason. She looked like she fit in this world, and had always belonged to it.

Gold wondered if he had died without realizing it. He quickly dismissed that idea for two reasons. One, if there was an afterlife, it would not look like Storybrooke. And secondly, he was pretty sure that he would not end up in the same place as Belle.

Belle, for her part, was convinced that she had finally gone insane. She had never thought this would happen, and she didn't think that it could. She the only explanation left was that she had finally cracked. She thought that she probably hadn't even left her cell, and she was still there huddled in the dark dreaming about things that could never happen.

"I've gone mad." She said simply. Gold was taken back, of anything he had been expecting her to say, that was the last thing on his mind.

"I assure you, this world is very real. At least it was when I woke up this morning." He replied. She smiled softly, whether at his joke or simply his voice she didn't know. Seeing her smile, Gold couldn't stop his own smile. Unbidden, he took a step toward her.

Belle noticed his reliance on the cane, and for the first time realized he had a limp. Her brow furrowed in confusion; if he was a figment of her mind, why would it give him a limp when he hadn't had one in the old world. Beginning to doubt her own declaration of madness, she tentatively reached out and laid her hand on his arm. It was very real beneath her touch and Belle felt her knees weaken a little. Gold shot his arm out and caught her shoulder to stop her from falling.

She looked at him in wonder. "You're real," she said, her smile lighting up her face. "You're really here." He looked down in wonder at the woman that he thought he would never see again. The world around them seemed to disappeared, it no longer mattered at all.

"Your alive." He said in quite wonder as he felt the reality of her under his hand. She held his gaze for a second longer, and carefully stepped away from him to regain her balance.

"How?" she wondered out loud. "She said…" the sentence broke off as she slipped into her own thoughts. Reality crashed back down on Mr. Gold; it would not be good to be seen having this conversation.

"Not here." He warned. He looked around to see if anyone had seen them. "Come with me." He went to put his hand on her waist to guide her, but stopped. Too many memories cropped up in his head, stilling his movements. He returned his hand to his side awkwardly and began to walk to his shop. Belle followed without questioning, seeming to understand his reasons for not wanting to be out in the open.

They walked in silence for the few minutes it took to get to his shop. He quickly opened the door and ushered her inside and directing her to his office in the back. He turned the sign to CLOSED after he entered and followed her.

He pushed aside the curtain that separated his office from the main store and tried not to stare as Belle glanced around the cluttered room, as curious as ever.

"I didn't think it was possible for you to collect more things than what you already had." She said, shaking her head slightly, unsure of what else to say so she said that first thing that came into her mind.

"All the various knick knacks of our world had to go somewhere." He replied, his voice taking on the joking tone he had used so often in their world.

"Not that you would mind the clutter of course. You always did love trophies." She replied, her voice holding the soft laugher that he has missed so much. He let himself gaze at her face a moment longer before returning to all the questions that were pushing at his mind.

"How is this possible? How did you get here?" he questioned. Belle shrugged.

"I got here the same as everyone else; the curse." She said simply. Guilt started to creep into Gold's mind.

"You've been here this whole time?" he asked, his voice soft in disbelief. She nodded. "Where?"

"The psychiatric ward underneath the hospital, although it was more like the dungeons I was in before." She said, swallowing thickly. Gold's heart ached at her distress, and then part of her words clicked in his mind.

"Dungeons?" he asked his voice hardening, "You were someone's prisoner?" the ache he was feeling was slowly turning into anger as he guessed Belle's answer.

"The Queen." Belle said simply, "She held me captive in the other world. And in this one too it seems." She said, a bitter laugh escaping. Gold started to see red.

"When?" he asked, anger coloring his voice. Belle looked wary about the level of anger in his voice.

"When, what?" she asked cautiously. For a split second, both of them were thinking back to the last time that he had been so angry, and what that anger had led to. Gold willed himself to feel the anger stronger than the guilt.

"When did she capture you?" he ground out between clenched teeth. For a moment, Belle considered not telling the truth in hopes of calming him, but then decided that lying would only aggravate him more. She closed her eyes and sighed.

"A few days after I left you." She finally said. Gold looked at her in disbelief.

"You never went home?" he asked, pain clear in his voice.

"I didn't make it that far." Belle replied, wondering about the guilty look on his face. She watched as the guilt and pain in his eyes transformed into rage

He started to walk toward the door, his body language screaming out murder. Belle needed a way to distract him, she knew him going after Regina when he was this mad would not be a good thing. She thought desperately of something to say to stop him, and she blurted out the first thing that came into her mind.

"Why didn't you come after me? Did you never think to even look for me, to make sure I was alright?" Her accusation was enough to stop Gold in his tracks. He looked back at her, the sorrow and grief back for a moment before he banished it behind his fury.

"Regina told me that you were dead." He seethed. As he spoke, every little piece clicked in his mind. The reason the Queen had come to tell him Belles fate was to throw him off her own trail. His memories of Regina's face taunting him while he sat in jail holding the tea cup came back to him. She had had her all this time, no doubt waiting to use Belle as some sort of ace in the hole. Rage radiated off of him in waves; Regina would be made to pay dearly for that little gambit. He stormed out of his office.

"Hey!" Belle yelled and darted after him. She reached to grab him by the arm, but he brushed her off. There was a look of pure murder in his distant eyes. Belle knew she had to stop him, before he did something regrettable. Not that she would mind him destroying the Queen, but she was sure that him killing her would not go as well here as it would have in then old world.

"Stop! Rumplestiltskin, stop!" she yelled, grabbing onto his arm again and not letting go this time. Hearing her say his name, the first time he had heard another voice say it in far too long, made him stop. He whirled around to face her.

"How can you tell me to stop?" he yelled. "She had you all this time! You should want her dead!"

"I do!" Belle screamed right back at him, grabbing onto his shoulders, bringing them close together. "I want her dead more than anyone. I want her to pay for what she did, not just to me but to everyone! But not like this. If you go after her like this, you're the one who will end up paying and I can't… We have to wait, and think before we do anything. She doesn't know that I'm free, and that I remember. That gives us an advantage over her." Her words seemed to slowly be bringing sanity back to him, but not enough to satisfy Belle.

"Please." She begged. "Please just wait. We can deal with Regina later. But right now, I need you to tell me what I've missed. I need to know what happened, so that I can survive here." She was staring straight into his eyes and she watched as the anger drained out of them. His eyes roamed over her face, taking in every detail. The look in them was enough to take her breath away. Tentatively, he placed his hand on the side of her face.

"I thought you were gone forever." He whispered. She half smiled at him, not being able to resist leaning slightly into his hand.

"I know. She told me that you were dead too." His eyes narrowed at the way her voice had cracked, and Belle quickly grabbed hold of his hand, pressing into it firmly. "But you're not. We're both alive and here right now." He smiled at her and then thought that he would have to learn not to smile like a fool whenever he saw her, otherwise his reputation in this town would be thrown out the window. After a few more moments, she broke his gaze to look at themselves, and she pulled away a little awkwardly.

He immediately missed the contact. To distract himself from the well of emotions running through him, he thought of something that had been nagging at the back of his mind.

"How do you remember everything?" He asked. She smirked slightly and laughed.

"I do believe that is you're doing." He looked taken back and confused, which was a rare expression only she could make him have. He had forgotten the effect she had on him. She laughed at the look on his face.

"When the curse was enacted, I felt what was left of your magic in the curse surround me, and protect me from Regina's power in the curse. I retained all of my memories. Living with two different sets of reality in your mind isn't the easiest thing to do though." He raised his eyebrow in silent agreement with that last statement. At least he wouldn't be wondering if she knew that he had created this curse. Tick off one item on his list of recent sins that he was afraid of her discovering.

"So if my magic protected you, how much of this world do you know?" He questioned. Belle ran her hand through her hair.

"I don't know. Bits and pieces mostly." She started. "I know the purpose, and the limits, of the curse. I know how this world works and how to live here, but I don't have any sort of personal history."

"But the oddest part is that every time I see something new, the information just sorts of fills itself out. The first time I saw Regina, here, I just knew that she was mayor of the town. It was the same with you; I looked at you and I knew who you were and that you own the pawn shop and everyone is terrified of you." He nodded along, mind racing with the information.

"Well some things never do change, dear." He said, and only Belle could notice the hint of resentment in his voice. "I think the curse is trying to catch up with you. When you get these new pieces of information, do they feel new or like something you've always known?" he asked her.

"Like things I've always known."

"That's good." He said. "We should be able to use that to create an identity for you here. If we're lucky, it may even work for everybody else. That way there won't be too many questions, and hopefully that will curb people's curiosity. "

"No one else here knows the truth about the curse, do they?" Belle asked.

"Not very many people, no." Gold said.

"So if we don't create a backstory for me, people will go looking for my past and find out that I was locked up, and then they would start to believe it was for good reason. I could get locked up again." The last sentence wasn't a question. Gold noticed how her voice had tensed up with the thought of being put away again.

"Hey." He said firmly, bringing her attention back to him. "I am never going to let that happen again. I'll protect you." He promised.

Silence lapsed between them for a few minutes while they both took everything in. Belle became curious about something else.

"How long have we been in this world?" she asked.

"Twenty eight years." Gold replied after her brought his mind back from where it had been plotting. Belles eyes widened in shock. She would never have thought that it could have been that long.

"Twenty eight years?" she repeated. Gold shrugged.

"Give or take a few months." He added, as if that could soften the blow.

"Hunter!" she said suddenly. "Where is Hunter?"

"Who?" Gold asked, confused. Belle shook her head slightly to correct herself

"The Queens Huntsman. He was in the cell next to mine; I called him Hunter." She failed to notice the way that he paled slightly. "I promised him I would get him out. I have to find him and help him to remember." Her voice held the first true excitement he had heard from her, and that made what he had to tell her even more painful.

"His name here is Graham." He said slowly, not being able to bring himself to say the whole truth yet. Belles face split into a grin.

"Graham." She said, happily trying the name out for herself. "I think that fits him a lot better. Where is he?"

"He was the, uh, the town sheriff." Gold said, trying not to stammer. For the first time, Belle noticed how distressed Gold was. Her face fell slightly.

"Was?" she said, calling out his use of the past tense. She was fighting the sick feeling that was rising up in her throat as Gold gave her a pitying look. Somehow, she knew what he was going to say, though she desperately didn't want him to say it.

"He died, Belle." He said softly. Her eyes widened and she gulped in a large breath of air, her head shaking back and forth.

"No." she whispered. Her heart felt like it was being crushed by an ice cold hand, and she found it hard to breath. She placed her arm around her stomach and her other hand covered her mouth. How cruel was fate, she thought, to give her back Rumplestiltskin but take her best friend in his place. Tears traced down her cheeks. Gold's heart hurt to see her in such pain, and he wanted to hold her in his arms, but he didn't know if she would let him.

"How…"she started, her words fighting to get out between her ragged breaths. "How did he die?"

"Belle…" he started, shaking his head. Telling her more wasn't going to help, but she interrupted him.

"Please, I need to know." She begged, and Gold knew that he could never deny her anything. So he decided to tell her the official story, the true one was probably too much for her right now.

"His heart gave out. It was sudden and unexpected. It was also fast, he didn't suffer." He explained, but she had stopped hearing anything after he said 'his heart'. Her gaze was taken far away.

"His heart." She said, a new emotion taking the place of her grief. Gold looked at her in concern. "_She_ had his heart." The words escaped behind clenched teeth. She began to shake, and he realized that this new emotion was a deeper and harsher rage than he ever imagined she could hold.

"She had his heart. He told me." She bit out. "All she had to do was squeeze and he would be dead. She killed him."

"What…" Gold began but Belle cut him off.

"She killed him!" she yelled. Before he could do anything to stop her, Belle raced to the door of his shop.

When he had first said that Hunter, _Graham_, was dead, Belle had felt like she was back in that dungeon when Regina had told her that her father had killed Rumplestiltskin. At that time, her overwhelming sense of helplessness had consumed her. But now she wasn't powerless; here, there were no bars or magic between her and the Queen. Here, she could actually do something with her grief and anger.

"Belle!" Gold called out, trying to get her to stop. If the situation wasn't so serious he would have laughed at the reversal of roles between them in just a few minutes. But unlike what she had done before, he couldn't get her to stop. The bell on the door clanged as the door shut violently behind her.

**AN: Hope you liked it. Thanks for all the reviews, hits, favorites and everything. Knowing that this story is liked keeps me going on it. New chapter next sunday!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Sorry about the late update. Enjoy!**

_Chapter 3_

Gold grabbed his cane and set after her as fast as he could, but he knew that she would be going a lot faster than he could and she would soon be gone. He prayed that she would listen to her own advice and not do anything rash.

Belle knew that she was being incredibly hypocritical as she nearly ran down the streets of the town hunting for Regina. She knew how foolish it was to go up against the Queen when she wasn't being rational. Even though Regina might not have magic here, it didn't make her powerless. But she couldn't stop herself any more than she could have returned back to her world.

It had been a long, tough day for Belle. She had felt the exhilarating rush of escape and freedom, the shock of finding the man she believed dead alive, and had learned the astounding fact that she had been held captive for more than twenty eight years without realizing it. To top it all off, her best friend had been killed by the woman she had already hated more than she had ever hated anything. In the back of her mind, Belle couldn't stop the traitorous thoughts of _what if_ from creeping in. What if she had escaped from her cell sooner, would she have been able to save Graham? This guilt only added fuel to her anger.

Belle really had no clue where she was going, but she continued to stalk the streets, hoping to catch a glimpse of the evil witch. She was nearing the other side of town when luck shined on her. A little ways ahead of her, exiting a building that had a sign proclaiming GRANNY'S DINER, was the mayor herself, completely alone. Rage bubbled inside of Belle, who wished fervently that she had a sword in her hand.

"Regina!" Belle screamed across the street as she began to run. Regina had only a few moments to turn around and looked absolutely stunned before Belles fist connected with her jaw, sending her flying backward onto the ground.

"You killed him!" she screamed hysterically, as she launched herself at the fallen woman one of her hands gripping her neck tightly, her other fist flying with no thought to as where it landed. "You used him! You used him like that for years and then you just kill him? How can you be this way?" Every word she spoke was punctuated with a hit as she unleashed all her grief and rage Regina who was too shocked to even put up a fight. "You killed him!"

It only lasted a few moments before she felt hands trying to pull her off the mayor, and she lashed out at them too, landing some pretty good hits. She kept screaming at Regina.

"How could you do this, any of it? All of it is your fault! You did this all, you did this to all of us! You evil, freaking, heartless witch!" Someone finally succeeded in pulling her off of Regina. Belle kept pulling against their grip, but whoever it was knew how to keep her held back and had her arms pinned behind her back. The person was yelling incoherently at her.

"Hey!" the person yelled directly into her ear, making Belle look at her captor for the first time. It was a blond woman who was looking at her as if she was crazy, which Belle had to admit that she probably was acting that way. She glanced around at the small crowd that had gathered, and faces and names jumped into her mind with dizzying speed that almost hurt. She looked back at the blond woman, but nothing sprang into her head.

This oddity was enough to put a crack in the rage Belle had been feeling and she stopped resisting the woman's hold, though she was still shaking with barely contained fury. Belle looked down at Regina who was still on the ground. She was gratified to see several bruises and a split lip with blood running down her chin. She felt metal bit onto her wrists, making her wince and look over her shoulder at her arms.

"You're under arrest." The blond said and pulled Belle over to a parked police car and left her alone in the back seat. Sitting there alone, her arms aching and seeing the crowd trying to help the shaken mayor, Belle began to think about what a bad idea this had been as her burning rage started to cool. But she had to admit that finally being able to hit Regina had been incredibly satisfying. As she watched the crowd grow larger, she noticed one person hanging back who wasn't focused on the mayor, but was instead looking at her inside the car.

It was a man in a black leather jacket standing near a motorcycle, and he was looking directly at her in curiosity. Belle somehow felt uneasy with the way he was studying her. What really unsettled her was that he, like the blond sheriff, was unknown to the knowledge of the curse in her head. That coupled with the way that he was looking at her made her feel very uncomfortable.

Her attention was taken off of him when an ambulance pulled up and paramedics rushed over to Regina. At first, Regina seemed alright with their fussing, but she soon froze. Belle followed her gaze and saw Rumplestiltskin, _Mr. Gold, _WHATEVER!, standing at the edge of the crowd, but he wasn't returning the mayors look. Instead, his eyes were focused on Belle in the car. Belle saw Regina follow his gaze to her, and she went a shade paler. Belle smirked at the woman's look of terror, and then turned to look at Gold, her heart still beating a little faster just at seeing him.

He raised his eyebrow, and she knew that he was asking her what she had been thinking. She shrugged in response. He rolled his eyes. Any further silent conversation was cut off when the blond, who Belle guessed was the sheriff, slid into the driver's seat and they left the scene. Belle kept eye contact with Gold until he was out of sight.

Belle sat in stony silence the entire ride to the sheriff's station. The rage she had felt at Regina was still there under the surface, but she had it under better control now. The car pulled into the parking lot of the sheriff's station and the sheriff led her inside. The woman grabbed some papers from a file and began to fill in details.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Belle." Belle replied crisply. After a pause the woman looked up at her expectantly.

"What's your last name?" she prompted. Belle didn't answer. She repeated herself.

"I heard you perfectly clear." Belle said.

"So what is it?" The sheriff asked, irritation clear in her voice.

"What's your name?" Belle questioned instead. Maybe knowing this person's name would let her know who she was. The sheriff rolled her eyes.

"Emma Swann." She said. Sadly, no information kicked started in Belles mind. "Now you tell me your name."

"I didn't make that deal." Belle said. Emma looked at her in exasperated disbelief.

"It was implied!" she snapped. Belle shrugged.

"Are you going to tell me your last name or not?" Emma asked as she kneaded her temple.

"No." Belle said simply. Emma's eyebrows arched and then narrowed in irritation.

"Fine!" she said, turning back to the paper.

Now Belle didn't do that just to be irritating. But she knew that eventually someone, whether that be Mr. Gold or even Regina, would come up with some sort of history for her. And she didn't want to say anything now because it would certainly contradict anything created later. And she didn't want to be taken as either a liar or a crazy person. So instead, she settled for being uncooperative.

Emma didn't even bother asking for Belle's other information, figuring this strange person that no one seemed to know, wouldn't give anything else away.

"Well, this is the second time Henry's rule of 'no one comes into Storybrooke' has been broken." Emma couldn't help but think to herself as she took Belles mug shots and finger prints. She knew that she should be putting more effort into questioning this stranger, but couldn't find the effort to do it. She was too tired and exhausted from trying to figure out what had happened to Katherine Nolan to worry that much about her. When she had gone to open the cell door, she had felt Belle tense slightly and then force herself to relax. Emma wondered if that meant that this woman had spent some time in jail before and made a mental note to check.

Belle sat down on the bed and stared at the far wall as Emma walked to her office. An hour and a half passed before the complete silence and the nagging question became too much for Emma.

"Why did you attack Regina?" she called over to Belle. For the past hour, she had been thinking that maybe Belle had something on the mayor that she could use. Belle glanced over at her but didn't answer the question.

Not knowing anything about Emma put Belle at a distinct disadvantage that she did not like. She wondered who the sheriff had been the in the real world, and what her connection to Regina was. If she was just some other flunky of the Queens, she didn't want to say anything that may end up putting herself in greater danger.

"Oh come on!" Emma whined. "Just tell me why you hit her. If I wasn't the sheriff I probably would have helped you instead of pulling you off." Belle was intrigued; apparently there was no love lost between the sheriff and mayor. But then again, she was sure most of the people who had worked for the Queen didn't like her majesty all the much.

"You're the sheriff." Belle said. "Don't you work for the mayor?" Emma made a face.

"Technically, yes. Doesn't mean that I don't want to hit her every time I see her. I'm sure she deserved it completely." She said.

"She deserves a lot more than what I did." Belle muttered darkly. Emma smiled slightly; she liked the response, maybe this Belle wasn't so bad as long as she wasn't crazy.

"So what did she do?" she asked again. Belle wished that she could say what exactly Regina had done to her, but then she would have to deal with the whole 'crazy person' issue.

"Its personal." She chose to say instead. Emma was going to respond but was stopped by the entrance of the woman in discussion.

"Speak of the devil." Belle muttered just loud enough to be heard. Regina shot her a dirty look. Belle smirked at the bruises and cut lip the mayor had. She wouldn't be forgetting that encounter for a while.

"Madam Mayor." Emma said, her voice dripping with poorly hid venom. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought you might like this, sheriff." Regina responded, handing over a file.

"What is it?" Emma asked even as she riffled through it.

"A personal file on your prisoner. Her name is Isabelle Brooks." She said stiffly. Belle placed her elbows on her knees and leaned on her clasped hands, interested in what was happening.

"And you just happen to have a file on the woman who attacked you?" Emma asked, her suspicions clear. Regina raised her eyebrow.

"There's nothing sinister here, sheriff. I keep the records of everyone who leaves Storybrooke, that way their personal information isn't misused."

Emma looked up in surprise. Belle wasn't just a stranger, she was a past resident that had left Storybrooke? Henry's theory was being blown to pieces today.

"She left?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yes sheriff. Is that so hard to believe?" Regina asked, smirking slightly as if at some inside joke. "She left more than 10 years ago to go to school, in Australia I believe."

Even though Belle knew it was impossible for anyone to leave, and had never even heard of this place called Australia before, memories formed in her mind about a school there. The memories were hazy and intentionally vague; all she could really recall was large rooms filled with benches, long hallways and a lot of sunshine. Mostly, Belle was curious as to why Regina was doing this at all.

"Alright." Emma said, snapping shut the folder. "Why did she attack you?" Regina hesitated just a second before answering. It wasn't enough for Emma to think anything of it, but Belle had caught it. After all the time that the Queen had spent gloating, Belle had learned how to read her fairly well. And one thing was for certain, Regina was not doing this of her own free will.

"While she moved away, her father stayed here." Regina started. "He passed away a few years ago, and the town took possession of his house." As she was speaking, the story filled in inside of Belles mind. Every detail of the fake life that the mayor had created came to Belle immediately, even though Regina hadn't told the whole story yet. She remembered a large house that she had lived in, arguing with her 'father' a lot, going to Australia because it was the farthest away she could get and the fact that the house should have been left to her. If she wasn't in jail, Belle would have been entranced with the way that the curses magic had worked, giving her details that hadn't even been said yet.

"You stole that house. It was left to me, and you know it." Belle let just the right amount of anger slip into her voice. Regina's eyes widened in shock before she schooled her features back into a calm mask. Belle smirked just a little bit; let the mayor deal with the fact that not only did Belle remember the past, she could also use the curse to her advantage.

"There was no record of inheritance." Regina said, trying to regain her cool composure. "If there had been, we wouldn't have taken it. Perhaps your father changed his mind."

"He would have told me." Belle bit out. Regina huffed in feigned disbelief.

"Your estranged father? I was under the impression that you two didn't talk after you left. You never even came back for his funeral." Regina smiled slightly at the anger that was apparent in Belles eyes. Belle wanted nothing more to get past the bars and attack her again.

"Well if that is all the problem is, give her back her house." Emma said, cutting off the silent staring contest. Regina returned her attention back to the sheriff.

"I'm afraid that's impossible. The house was destroyed to make room for construction on the road."

"Yeah and you didn't think I might have liked to know that?" Belle snapped, playing her part wonderfully. "It was my home, it was were I grew up! Just admit it; you enjoy taking what people hold dear and destroying it. Ripping out their hearts." Belle was no longer pretending, she was talking about Graham. And if the stony look on Regina's was anything to go by, she knew that too.

"She beat you up over a house?" Emma asked incredulously.

"What can I say sheriff? People get upset over silly little things that never really mattered to begin with." Regina said, not looking away from Belle. Belle made an involuntary movement toward the bars as if she could get through them. Emma looked back and forth between them, not believing that a house could cause the level of hate she saw radiating off of her prisoner, but her super power wasn't picking up on any lies. She shook her head; there was nothing she could do to make them tell her the truth.

"I assume you'll be pressing charges?" she asked, tired of this whole thing. This snapped Regina's attention away from Belle. A look of disgust, and maybe even a little fear, briefly passed over her face.

"Actually, no. I think Ms. Brooks would very much like to not add a mark on her record so close to her return home. I'm sure we can chalk this little incident up to the stress of travel." Emma looked shocked, when had Regina become the forgiving type?

"You just want to release her?" she asked, flabbergasted. Regina laughed as if Emma had said something terribly funny.

"Of course not. Release her without any punishment after she viciously attacked me? What kind of message would that be?" Emma rolled her eyes, here was the vindictive Regina she knew. "If she can post bail, as a sort of repayment to the town for all the trouble she's caused, then you can let her go."

"And how much were you thinking the bail should be?" Emma asked, expecting a high number. She wasn't disappointed.

"I think $30,000 would be sufficient. That would cover the cost of the trouble the paramedics had to go through, as well as yourself sheriff." Belle gasped in disbelief.

"I don't have that kind of money!" she yelled. Regina shrugged, not bothered in the least.

"In that case, maybe a few nights in that cell will help to cool your temper." Belle paled slightly at the thought being in this cage that long; she was having a hard time with just a few hours. Regina saw her discomfort.

"Unless you'd prefer do real jail time?" she asked innocently. Belle glared.

"A few nights is fine." She said between clenched teeth, glaring daggers at the mayor. With a smirk, Regina left the station. Belle was reminded of the way that she used to prance away from the dungeons. She couldn't think of an insult bad enough to call the mayor.

"Wow." Emma whistled. "That was pretty harsh." She walked over to the cell and sat down on the couch.

"Actually I was expecting worse." Belle admitted, remembering what Regina could do when truly angry. Inside her chest, her heart ached as if it too remembered when Regina had slowed it almost to the point of stopping. Emma looked at over at her in mild surprise.

"Why does she hate you so much? Besides beating her up, I mean. It seems like there's more history between the two of you." Emma asked. She seemed genuinely interested, and Belle didn't think that the animosity between the mayor and sheriff was faked. She figured that telling the truth, after a certain fashion, couldn't hurt.

"She didn't think that she would have to deal with me again, not like this anyways." She answered.

Emma grinned at Belle. "Well anyone who Regina doesn't like is someone I want to get to know better, as long as you don't make it a habit to beat up more people." She said. Belles half smiled back. She was starting to like the sheriff, but she couldn't let herself warm up to her yet without knowing who Emma really was. They sat in silence for a few minutes, and when it was clear that Belle wasn't going to say anything else Emma went back to her office.

A few hours past with Emma or Belle would occasionally say something to the other, but nothing really serious. Belle had taken to walking back and forth in her cell, unconsciously practicing the ways that Hunter, _Graham_ she reminded herself, had showed her how to walk silently. Several times she had been tempted to ask Emma about him; as the new sheriff she must have known something about the old one. But her apprehension of not knowing who Emma was always held her back, even though her curiosity was driving her crazy.

"Wow its late." Emma said, looking at a clock after she had pushed back from her desk to stretch. It had grown dark out a while ago. "I'm starved. I'm gonna go to Granny's, do you want anything?" she asked as she got up and started to pull her coat on.

"Sure." Belle said, suddenly aware that she hadn't eaten since the morning, when she was back in the hospital. It was hard to believe that only that morning she had been in that hospital cell, and was now in a completely new cell. Emma grabbed her keys and left the station.

As soon as she was gone, Belle tried wrenching the metal bars of her cell to see if any were loose. She had wanted to do this the entire time, but she couldn't with Emma there.

"Don't bother. Those bars aren't going to move at all." A familiar voice said, coming from around the corner so she couldn't see him. "And trust me, I've tried." He walked around the corner so she could see him. He wasn't smiling, but when he saw her a glimmer entered his eyes, revealing how happy he was to see her.

Belle leaned against the bars as Mr. Gold walked over to stand right next to the cell. Even though she knew that he was alive, seeing him standing in front on her sent a thrill through her. His mouth turned up into a sardonic smile.

"So I can't go up against the Queen in my anger, but you can?" He said it casually as if discussing the weather. Belle scoffed slightly, and looked away from him in embarrassment.

"I know. Very hypocritical of me wasn't it?" He shrugged one shoulder in silent agreement. "But you should have seen her face. And it was a very satisfying thump when she hit the ground" She said added, laughing softly.

"Oh I don't doubt that." He said. "But it would have been so much better if I was there with you."

"Next time." Belle promised, smiling thinly. The smile was colder than any he had ever seen on her face before, and it distressed him. He had no problems with taking a darker path than most, but he didn't want Belle to do the same.

"I take it you're the reason Regina was kind enough to create a story for me." She continued, sarcastically emphasising the word _kind_.

"I may have had a small role." He admitted, dismissing it off hand.

_Regina sat on an ambulance stretcher, the paramedics adamant that she be looked after. She wasn't interested in being pampered; she wanted to know how Belle had escaped from the hospital. She had to admit that she was not expecting to see the young woman in Storybrooke on that day or any other. She was planning on going to the hospital immediately and find out how those fools had let her escape, when she saw __**him**__ standing a little ways down the street._

_ Regina paled as Mr. Gold looked directly in her eyes. She could see the barely contained fury that she was all too familiar with, though she had never seen that level of anger in this world. She knew immediately that Gold knew about Belle, and Regina knew that she was dead. _

_Gold broke her gaze to look at something else. She followed it and saw that he was looking at Belle in the sheriff's car. Regina was sure that her heart had stopped. By the looks they shared, she knew that this was not the first time that they had seen each other. When Belle had first attacked her, screaming about how she had killed him, Regina had assumed that she had meant the false story she had told her about Rumplestiltskin. But seeing how they looked, she was now sure that wasn't the case. _

_She allowed herself a minute to think about who Belle had been referring to. She remembered how close the Huntsman had gotten to Belle, and reasoned that she must have learned about his death. Regina hadn't known that Belle had felt so strongly about her pet sheriff. _

_As soon as Emma drove away Belle away, Regina roughly pushed away the paramedics, insisting that she was fine. Without stopping to talk to anyone, she got into her car and drove quickly to her office. She knew that even there she wasn't going to be able to avoid Gold, but she was only trying to buy herself some time to try and prepare herself for his confrontation. The panic she had felt was gone, replaced by the old reassurance that he couldn't hurt her. It didn't make her apprehension fade completely though._

_She had only been in her office for a few minutes, calmly arranging a few things and fixing herself a drink when before she heard the tell-tale sound of a cane. She sat down in her chair, the picture of a calm and collected person even though inside she was nervous. But she was the Evil Queen, she did not show fear even to the Dark One. She took a slow drink as Mr. Gold entered. _

_ "Come to talk about how you broke our deal?" she asked with the sole purpose of irritating him. _

"_Well I think that it would be rather obvious now, but you lied to me, your majesty. And you know what happens to people who try to trick me." Gold said ignoring her comment. His voice was low and deadly. For a brief moment, Regina wondered if he might go back on a deal and actually hurt her. _

"_If that is so, than what are you waiting for?" she asked, cocking her eyebrow, silently daring him to do something. His answering smile was thin and dangerous. _

"_Don't think that deal I made will protect you forever, dear. I will find a way to make you pay for what you did, but that's not what I'm here to discuss right now."_

_ "Then what do you want?" she questioned. His face was impassive._

_ "It's simple really. As the caster of the curse, you can invent and change everyone's stories on a whim. You are going to create a story for Belle that explains her behaviour and where's she's been all this time. And she is not to stay in jail." _

_ Regina scoffed as if he was joking. "Really? Aren't you going to say your magic word?" she mocked. Gold chuckled quietly. _

_ "I don't need to, dear. You'll want to do this one for yourself." Regina raised her eyebrow._

_ "And why would I do that?" she questioned. _

_ "Because a woman without a past is a very curious thing. I'm sure Sheriff Swan would agree with me, and would start to dig around and would find out about your illegal holding cells underneath the hospital. I'm sure the information that comes out from that would not reflect well on you." He said, his face daring her to go against him. Regina hated it, but she knew he had a point._

_ "Fine. But if I do this, your girl has to agree to play the part I set up for her. She has to fit into this town as if she's always been here. She can do nothing out of the ordinary, and be just like everyone else. After all, we don't want uncomfortable questions to be asked. And if she doesn't do everything to fit in, I will make sure all the questions are focused on her, and she will be put back into that cell faster than she could call your name." The hand gripping his cane tightened and he lifted his other hand to point at her threateningly. _

_ "Don't push me, your majesty. Deal or no deal, Belle is the only reason you are still breathing right now, and she's smart enough to already know what she needs to do." He said through bared teeth. Against her will, Regina swallowed nervously. Knowing that his point was reached, Gold turned to leave. As he walked through the door, Regina couldn't resist one final word and was gratified when it made him pause for a moment._

_ "She's can't be that smart, she fell in love with you."_

"Are you alright?" Gold asked Belle softly. He had gone from teasing to concerned in a blink, and Belle smiled at the familiar radical shifts in mood that she hadn't realized she had missed.

"Not really, no." she admitted. Gold shifted uncomfortably; he knew what he wanted to do, but was unsure about what he _should _do. He settled for taking a step closer to the cell and hesitantly put his hand on her arm. A storm of different emotions raged inside of Belle at his touch which was different and familiar all at once.

"What did she do to you?" he asked, his voice so quite that she almost couldn't hear him. Images of her years of imprisonment, and the torture she had endured came flooding to the front of her mind. She remembered Grahams face every time he came back from the Queens chambers, and how Regina had caused her to break down because of a lie. All of her horrid memories screamed to be remembered in full and vivid clarity, each worse than the last.

She looked at Mr. Gold, not saying anything but silently begging him not to make her tell him. He had felt the shudder that had ran through whole body, and he understood that she couldn't tell him what she had gone through, at least not right now. He nodded his silent understanding, slightly mystified that after all this time they still understood each other so well.

"Graham was a good man." He said, telling her something he knew she would want to know. Her eyes clouded over slightly, but she looked at him expectantly, willing him to tell her more. He thought for a minute about what to say that wouldn't make her more upset.

"He was brave, fair and smart. He knew very well how Regina felt about Emma, and he still made her his deputy. That's his jacket there." He said, gesturing over to the leather jacket that hung in the office. Belle looked at it quizzically.

"Emma kept it?" she asked as if trying to figure something strange out. Gold took the moment to study her face. He had seen the look in her eyes when he had first mentioned Graham, and an uncomfortable thought had kept nagging at him.

"You cared about him a great deal, didn't you?" Belle nodded, the tone of his voice bringing her attention back to him. He was no longer looking at her, and she thought she could see an emotion in him that she had never seen before. Was he jealous? The thought made her smile slightly and she put her hand on top of his, making him look at her in surprise.

"He was the only reason I was able to get through everything. He was my strength everyday, my best friend. But nothing more than that, Rumplestiltskin." He tried not to show his instant feelings of relief. To hide it, he changed the subject.

"It's actually Mr. Gold here." He said, clearing his throat slightly. Belle smothered her grin at his rather obvious tactic. She decided that she would give him this one.

"I know," She said. "But it's going to be hard for me to call you a name other than your own." He laughed slightly as she crinkled her nose in mock disgust. A thought occurred to her.

"What did Regina want in return for making my past?" she asked.

"What we already knew. For you to fit into town here perfectly, not do anything out of the ordinary. Just to be like everyone else." He answered. A look passed over her face.

"And that would include staying away from you." She said sadly. He blinked, surprised that he hadn't thought of that. He could no longer picture her away from him.

"Belle…" he started, saying her name softly but was stopped by the sound of the station door opening, heralding Emma's return. Gold quickly removed his hand from Belles arm and took a step back before the sheriff came into the room. Emma was carrying a sack from Granny's but she stopped when she saw Gold.

"What are you doing here?" she asked suspiciously. All it took was her voice and he went back to being the pawnbroker that everyone feared. He turned to look at the sheriff.

"I heard about Ms. Brooks altercation with the mayor, and I thought I would come down and congratulate her for knocking Regina around a little." Belle rolled her eyes. Emma still looked suspicious and glanced between Gold and her prisoner.

"Is that so?" she asked. Gold nodded.

"I also came down to offer my help." He said.

"How?" she probed.

"By paying her bail, of course. I was an old family friend, so I wanted to help her." He said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Emma narrowed her eyes at him, wary about deals he made with anyone. Plus the fact that he said that he was a friend; since when was Mr. Gold friends with anyone?

"Where you their lawyer?" she asked, clearly not buying the friend thing.

"No I wasn't. If I had been, I assure that Ms. Brooks would not have lost her house." Emma narrowed her eyes at Mr. Gold, something was off about him. She had heard how he had said Belle's name, as she had been closing the door, not opening it as they thought. Emma had never heard Gold speak so gently to anyone before, and frankly it disturbed her.

"And what does she have to do in return?" It was clear to Belle that the sheriff didn't trust Mr. Gold and was kind of touched that she was trying to look out for her.

"Simply pay me back in due time." Emma wouldn't let it go that easy, she knew how Gold operated.

"She doesn't have any money or a job." She said, determined that she wasn't going to let Belle get the short end of one of Gold's deals. Gold smiled slyly.

"Ms. Brooks will pay me back my becoming my house keeper." He said, glancing at Belle out of the corner of his eye. The corner of Belle's mouth twitched upwards; just like old times then. He half smiled at her acceptance of his proposition and then turned his full attention back to the confused sheriff.

"Your house keeper?" she asked incredulously. Gold smiled devilishly, and glanced at Belle quickly before replying.

"The place is filthy." He said as if it were a perfect explanation. Belle had to put her hand over her mouth to stop the snort of laughter as she remembered him saying that before. Emma looked at her in confusion. She had seen Mr. Gold be many things before, arrogant, condescending and manipulative but she had never seen him flippant before. She turned to Belle.

"House keeper? Is he making you do anything _else_ for him?" Belle looked taken aback by the implication, but Gold cut in before she could answer.

"I would never make a deal with _that _as part of the payment." His voice had turned hard and menacing at the accusation, and Emma knew he was telling the truth. But that didn't mean that Belle knew what she was getting into. Emma walked over to the cell.

"Do you know what you're agreeing to? Are you're ok with this?" she asked quietly so just Belle could hear her.

"Yes I do. I need to get out of here, and this is the only way to do it." Belle replied. She was sure Emma thought her concern was justified, even though Belle knew that she wouldn't be burned by any deal she made with Gold. But she had to play her part; she had to pretend to be someone from this town, who knew Mr. Gold and was scared of him just like everyone else.

Emma searched the young woman's face, looking for any hint that would let her refuse Gold. She saw determination mixed with apprehension.

"Ok." Emma said, admitting defeat as she led Gold into her office where he paid the bail money. She was only half surprised when he paid the full amount in cash. Emma then grabbed her keys and unlocked the door to Belles cell.

"You need any help, you call me." She said quietly, slipping her a card. Belle looked at her and smiled warmly at the sheriff; the way that the sheriff was trying to protect her coupled with the knowledge that Graham had trusted her went gone a long ways in helping Belle trust the woman.

"I will." She replied tersely, still acting, before following Gold outside and into his parked car. He opened a passenger door for her, where there was a Styrofoam box with steam leaking out of it. After she sat down, Belle opened the box and breathed in the smell of food. Gold started the car, but remained parked while she ate her meal. When she had eaten as much as she could, which was a lot less then Gold would have preferred, he drove out of the parking lot.

The drive passed by in silence that had only the slightest feeling of unease in it. Belle felt all the events and the emotions of the day start to catch up with her, and all she wanted to do was sleep. They pulled up in front of his house, and Belle realized that she hadn't expected to go anywhere else, much less wanted to. She followed his slow steps into the house, remembering the last time they had done this.

"Tell me that I get an actual room this time." She joked through a yawn. Gold smiled at her and said that there was guest room up the stairs that he led her too.

The room was fairly good sized and was laid out perfectly. The bed was large and covered in soft blankets. Belle thought that nothing in the world would look as good as that bed did at that moment. A plush sitting chair sat next to the bed stand. Before she could move, Gold went over to the bed and pulled down the covers for her. She smiled sleepily at his gesture.

She fell into the bed fully clothed and pulled the covers up over. It felt like heaven. Gold chuckled at her blissful expression, hesitated and then turned to leave the room. He was stopped when Belle grabbed his hand and he looked back at her.

"Can you stay?" she asked hesitantly, biting her lower lip. "I'm afraid that if I go to sleep, I'll wake up to all this being a dream." Gold nodded, he understood exactly how she felt; he had wanted to stay, but didn't know how to ask her. He pulled the chair closer to the bed and sat down.

Belle reached out for his hand again, which he gave her gladly. Both knew without saying anything that the morning would bring with it everything they weren't saying, and that it would be difficult for the both of them. But for right now, they were content to just hold onto each other and the relief that they were both right here, right now. Soon, they were both asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Sorry for the late update. But here it is, chapter 4. Enjoy!**

_Chapter 4_

Sunlight peered through the small cracks between the drapes, landing directly on Belles face. Even though her eyes were still closes, the bright sunlight woke her up. Her mind still groggy from sleep, she didn't realize where she was at and panic set in. Her sleepy mind raced to try and figure out where she was; had Regina moved her to a new cell in the hospital, or was the hospital itself some sort of magic induced hallucination? Her eyes flitted around the room, trying to see anything familiar when they landed on Mr. Gold still asleep in the chair beside her bed.

She felt her shoulders relax and her heart beat started to calm down as she gazed at him. He was hunched forward a little in the chair, his head resting on his chest rising slightly with each breath. He seemed to be perfectly calm, which made Belle wonder what he was dreaming about that gave him such ease. A part of her hoped that the reason he seemed so content was because she was here with him. In fact they hadn't let go of each other's hands the entire night leaving her with pin and needles in her arm, but she didn't care.

Another part of her, the more practical part, said that even if things were calm and happy now, it wouldn't last that way for very long. There was far too much history and time between them to ever go back to how things had used to be, so care free and light. While Belle still carried the heartbreaking pain of Rumplestiltskins rejection within her, but she also still loved him, which could almost be worse. As much as she hoped that this new world would mean a new start between them, she was afraid that even after losing her for so long, he still wouldn't have the courage to be with her.

And even after all this time, and the pain of thinking he was gone forever, she didn't know if she could forgive him and let him back into her heart. What she did know was the right now she couldn't even bare the thought of losing him again. So what was she to do? She smiled to herself bitterly; she was in the exact same predicament she had been when she had first left him, except this time there was no outside world that she could run away to.

She was broken out of her thoughts by Gold shifting slightly in the chair, starting to wake up. His eyes sought her out before looking at anything else, as if to make sure that she was still there. When he saw her, his whole countenance brightened and he smiled warmly at her making butterflies swirl in her stomach.

"Good morning." He said, his accent thicker after sleeping. Belle realized that she wouldn't mind that being the first thing she heard every morning for the rest of her life. He looked down at their joined hands and ran his thumb lightly over the top of her hand. But then his smile fell a little, and Belle knew that his thoughts were taking him in a similar direction her own had been. There was silence between them for several minutes as she let him think.

She hope that all her fears would be for nothing, and that he would finally come out and say what she had always wanted him to say. Still looking at their joined hands, Gold looked about to saw something; Belle unconsciously held her breath. He looked up at her, but then slowly let his breath out; he wasn't going to saw anything. He looked away and then let go of her hand.

"I'm going to make some tea." He said softly, slowly getting up and leaving the room. When he was gone, Belle rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling, holding back tears.

Mr. Gold walked down the stairs slowly, his leg aching a little more than usual because of how he had slept, but honestly, if it meant being near Belle he didn't mind. But then again, he probably just blew any chance he might have had that she would even want to be around him.

He entered the kitchen and pulled a box of tea of the shelf. He leaned against the counter as he waited for the kettle to boil, silently cursing his cowardice again. Why couldn't he just be brave for once? How come he couldn't just come out and say what he had wanted to tell her for over thirty years now?

As much as he hated to admit it, he was afraid. He was afraid that after all this time, after everything that she had gone through, her feelings would have changed. But more than that, he was afraid that if she did still care for him, when she learned everything he had done after he had lost her… Well he was sure that she would certainly hate him then. He hadn't been a good man when she had first met him, and he was worse now. He had done so many terrible things, how could he even ask her to see past them?

The water had just begun to boil when he heard Belle walking down the stairs. His memories took him back to their days together in the Dark Castle and how much he had enjoyed her being the first person, and sometimes the only person, he saw every day. He glanced up as she entered the room, and seeing her took his breath away. Still wearing the same clothes from yesterday that she had slept in, she was beautiful. His chest ached at the thought that she might leave him. He knew that she couldn't let that happen, he needed her. He just had to figure something out that would make her stay.

Belle sat down on the stool and leaned her elbows on the kitchen island as she watched him make two cups of tea. The only sound in the whole house was the rattle of china. When he was done, he passed her one of the cups and then sat down opposite her.

Belle looked steadily into the cup, trying to think to something to say to break the silence between them. She replayed the last day in her mind, thinking about all that had happened to her in just 24 hours. She creased her forehead as a thought hit her.

"Whose is Emma?" she asked. Mr. Gold looked up at her and smirked slightly at her curiosity. "It's just that when I saw her, I didn't know who she was, unlike everyone else I saw."

"That is because she wasn't trapped here by the curse with everyone else." Belle's brow furrowed.

"She's not from out world?" she asked.

"Oh she is, but she spent most of her life in this one. Emma is the daughter of Snow White and her Prince Charming, and she is the only one who can break the curse and save everyone. They put her in a magical wardrobe before the curse reached them, and it transported her to this world."

Belle had dozens of questions forming in her mind, so she tried to sort them in order of what she considered the most important.

"If she wasn't affected by the curse, why is she in Storybrooke?"

"Her son, Henry. She gave the boy up for adoption when he was born, and it so happened that Regina adopted him. Recently, he figured out the towns origins and he found Emma to break the curse."

"Let me see if I got this right; Regina is raising the son of the curse breaker, who is the daughter of the woman who she hates the most who is also her step daughter. So Henry would be her step-grandson as well as he son." She shook her head. "Talk about a complicated family life." Mr. Gold laughed, which made her smile as well.

"But why is it Emma that's the curse breaker? How does that work? How can the curse be broken? You created the curse; why make it so that it would be broken?" she asked all these questions in a rushed voice, trying to get them all out in the open.

"Still as full of questions as ever, I see." He replied, instead of actually answering any of the questions. "How do you know of Snow White?" he questioned instead. Belle knew that it was a diverting tactic and she wondered why he wouldn't just answer her questions. But she knew there was no point in pushing the issue when he had already made up his mind to ignore something, so she answered his instead.

"Regina never shut up about her." She said while rolling her eyes.

"Ah. That woman does enjoy the sound of her own voice quite well." He mocked, making Belle laugh softly.

In truth, it had taken Regina a long time before she ever mentioned Snow White to Belle in her daily "visits" to the prison. It had taken a few times before Belle had asked why Regina hated Snow so much, and the Queen had told her the whole story. Belle thought she was rather insane for holding that level of hatred against a little girl, and had told the Queen so. This had resulted in the Queen repeating her reasons for hating Snow, and then Belle had repeated that she was crazy. It had soon dissolved into a shouting match before the Queen had stormed out. Graham had been quite amused at the whole thing.

"In this world, Snow White is the school teacher. Her name is Mary Margaret Blanchard." He said, testing out a theory. He watched her face for any sign of recognition, but there was none.

"Nothing came to you?" he asked. Belle shook her head. "It seems that you actually have to be looking at someone to know about them, not just hear their name."

A comfortable silence lapsed between them as they both became lost in thought. Mr. Gold was starting to get a nagging thought, but he couldn't be sure just yet. Belle for her part was thinking about something completely different.

"Is my father here?" she asked breaking the silence. His face darkened for a moment, a flash of anger quickly seized by guilt. Belle wondered what that was all about.

"Yes he is. His name is Mo French, he owns the flower shop." He said without looking at her, instead he stirred his tea.

"He's safe though?" she asked. Gold seemed to flinch slightly at her words. He looked up at her then.

"As safe as anyone is here. But it wouldn't be a good idea to see him, Belle. He has no idea who you are, and if somehow seeing you made him remember, Regina would not hesitate in getting rid of him."

"I know." She said frowning slightly. "I just… I'm glad that he's here." Truthfully, she didn't really want to see her father yet. She had spent far too long being angry with him over what she had thought he had done, and she was sure that she wasn't over that yet even though it had all been a lie.

"What are we going to do?" she asked him quietly. He looked puzzled.

"About me being here in Storybrooke." She clarified. "I have to act like everyone else, but what does that include?" Mr. Gold nodded slightly as he started to think.

"Well, you'll need to find your own place to live, and probably a different job as well." He started.

"So that I'm away from you as much as possible." How she said it so simply gave him an uncomfortable feeling in his chest.

"That is how everyone else would act." He agreed, though he didn't like it. "But you will have to remain my housekeeper, at least until you pay me back. If I let you out of a deal that easily, it would be very suspicious." Belle nodded along with his statement, but she was secretly glad that she had a reason to stay with him. She wondered how often they would end up using the townspeople as an excuse.

"As for everything else, you'll just have to observe everyone, and figure out the best way to fit in." as he said this, he got off his stool and gestured to Belle to follow him down the hall and into his large office. He went over to a decorative cabinet in the corner, and pulled off the fake front revealing a safe. He pulled out a key from his vest pocket and unlocked it.

Belle could barely see into it because of how he was standing, but even with her limited view she could see that the whole thing was filled with papers and large stacks of money. Mr. Gold pulled out a couple of the stacks, relocked the safe and then replaced the fake front. Standing up, he handed the money towards her.

Her eyes widened slightly; both stacks where at least three inches thick and if the top bill was any indication, they were made of hundreds.

"I can't take that…" she started to protest but he shook his head.

"I insist. To find a place to stay, you're going to need to need it. And besides, the lack of money is more suspicious the owning a large amount of it. It means nothing to me, so please take it."

Reluctantly, she took it and placed it in an inside pocket of her jacket which she was still wearing from the night before.

"I can probably get away with giving you a few days to settle in before you start working for me." he said, "But then I'll have to start acting like my normal, monstrous self."

"You're not a monster." Belle admonished quickly, purely out of habit. He looked at her sadly, as if he were holding onto a thousand locked secrets that he thought would make her hate him if he shared them. Belle decided right there and then that any issues they had would have to wait, at least until they both got used to how life was going to be now.

"I better get going." She said softly. Mr. Gold nodded in response.

"The best place to probably start your search would be at Granny's Inn."

"Actually," she interrupted, "There's something I need to do first."

A cool breeze was blowing, making the trees in the forest sway slightly. But besides the wind, it was a sunny and beautiful day. Not that any amount of sunshine would make this place beautiful. Belle had always hated cemeteries, probably because she had been in far too many of them. The first time she had stepped foot inside of one was at her mother's funeral when she was a child. And as the ogre wars had gotten closer and closer to her village, there seemed to be more funerals than anything else.

When she told him she wanted to go the cemetery, Mr. Gold had offered to drive her but she had insisted that she would walk. It would be good to be outside after all the time she had been imprisoned. Also, if they were going to act like all that there was between them was a deal, they might as well start now.

Belle walked among the various headstones and grave markers, noticing that most of them looked ancient and in disrepair. It seemed like no one came here at all. She finally found the gravestone she was looking for; it stood out from the rest due to the fact that it seemed to be new and that it was obvious someone took the time to keep it clean and orderly. There was even a bunch of flowers laid on the grass in front of it, though they looked old and almost ready to die.

She sat down on the grass, careful not to sit on the flowers, and looked at the black stone that was only marked with a single name, _**Graham**__._ There were no dates, or even a last name with it. Seeing it made the fact that he was dead hit Belle even harder, and tears stung her eyes.

"I wish I wasn't here. I wish that _you_ weren't here." She started talking to the black stone, a few tears trailing down her cheeks. "This is my fault." She said bitterly. In her mind, she heard Grahams soft voice gently rebuking her, saying the truth that she wasn't to blame. She shook her head against the voice in her mind.

"I promised to get you out, to free you. If I hadn't believed Regina about Rumplestiltskin, I wouldn't have been half asleep for the last twenty eight years. I would have figured a way out sooner, and I could have saved you."

A lump in her throat choked her, stopping her from speaking. She just sat there for a few minutes, crying silently. Birds sung in the forest.

"I am sorry, I'm so sorry." She said, after she was finally able to speak again. "And I know that it doesn't make any difference now, but I am never going to let Regina manipulate me like that again. I'm not going to let her win, no matter what." She fell silent again as she wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"I miss you. I'll always miss you." She said quietly, and then turned to look behind her as she heard approaching footsteps. To her surprise, she saw the town sheriff walking towards the grave, a handful of fresh flowers in her hand. The other woman's face was a mask of confusion laced with a little suspicion as well.

"Ms. Brooks." Emma said as weary way of greeting. "What are doing here?"

Belle had to stop herself from laughing at the bluntness of the question. She hated when people beat around the bush; she much preferred people to be direct about their issues. She could already tell that she was going to like Emma very much. Belle looked back toward the gravestone for a second.

"I had to say goodbye." She said, wiping at her eyes to try and get rid of any last trace of the tears. Emma looked at the gravestone, a look of intense pain coming over her face for a split second before her walls went back up.

Belle looked up at her, taking in the flowers that she was carrying. They were the same kind as the dying ones placed on the ground, making it rather obvious that Emma was the one tending to Grahams grave. Belle wondered why; was it simply loyalty to an old boss?

"Did you know Graham well?" Emma asked as she knelt on the ground beside her, carefully replacing the dead flowers with the fresh ones.

"Yes, a long time ago." She said, even while it felt like it could have been only a few months ago to her.

"It's funny, he never mentioned you." Emma said, clearly suspicious. Belle half smiled as she wondered if it was because she was new in town or because of her connection to Mr. Gold.

"Well, it was a long time ago. And no one here ever really talks about their pasts, do they?" Belle replied to the question, while at the same time not being able to resist throwing in a little hint about the curse. Emma didn't look convinced though.

"Couldn't make it for the funeral?" she said, rebuke sharp in her voice. Belle's face became stony as the hot anger against Regina came back to her.

"I didn't know he was gone until I got into town. I came back, expecting to be with him again, and I learned he had a heart attack."

Emma knew Belle wasn't lying, and besides that she could hear the pain in the other woman's voice. It was a pain she was familiar with herself.

"No one thought to tell you?" she asked. Belle shook her head.

"Not many people knew about us, and those who did wouldn't have wanted me to know anyways." Somehow, Emma knew that Belle was talking about the mayor.

"That's the real reason that you attacked Regina, isn't it?"

Belle looked like she was going to argue, but simply sighed and nodded her head.

"I got back, my home was destroyed and then I found out that Graham was gone. I guess I just snapped and I attacked her. And the rest you know." She finished her sentence with a flourish of her hand. Emma smiled and began to fiddle with some grass stems.

"Do you know that Graham and Regina were together?" she asked. Even though she hated reliving those memories about Graham, she figured Belle should know.

"Yeah, I knew." Belle said, her voice full of disgust. Emma paused for a moment, and to Belle it seemed like she was wondering whether or not to ask a question she really didn't want to know the answer of.

"Where you and him…?" she eventually asked, leaving the question in the air. Belle could have laughed; that was the second time she was asked that question, and both time jealously and a little worry was evident in the asker.

"No, not even a little, sorry if I made it sound like we were. He was my best friend, and we got each other through a rather difficult time." Emma couldn't stop her small hint of a relieved smile. Belle tilted her head to the side as she studied Emma who had turned back toward the gravestone.

She knew that Emma had kept Grahams jacket hanging in her office, and it was evident that she took the time to maintain and visit his grave. The way she had asked whether she and Graham had been together had just cemented what Belle had already guessed.

"You cared about him a great deal, didn't you?" she asked the sheriff, who turned to look at her sharply.

"Yeah, well he gave me chance in this town. I owe this job to him." she said curtly. Belle turned her head to hide her smile. She knew love when she saw it, and she was happy that Graham had been able to find it in his life.

"I should get going." Emma said, standing up. It was obvious that talking about Graham was becoming too uncomfortable for her. Belle stood up as well.

"Have a nice day, Ms. Brooks." Emma said. Belle smiled at the other woman, who couldn't help but smile back.

"Please call me Belle, Sheriff." she said. Emma nodded.

"And you can call me Emma. I guess I'll see you around town Belle." she said and then walked away. After Emma left, Belle stayed sitting in the cemetery for a few minutes before her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she hadn't actually eaten anything at Mr. Gold's house that morning. With one last look at Graham's gravestone, she turned and walked away.


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5_

Getting back to the main street was an easy task, and from there Belle remembered the way to get to Granny's Diner. As she walked along the street she noticed that most of the other people she passed gave her strange looks when they thought she wasn't looking. If she looked directly at them, they smiled politely but then hurried on. Obviously her incident with the mayor had become public knowledge, but Belle didn't mind them hurrying on. With each new face she saw, memories popped into her head filling the previously blank spaces. She knew that if she met too many people all at once she would end up having a terrible headache.

When she finally saw the little diner, she gratefully ducked into the mostly empty establishment. Those that were in here were too engrossed in their food to even glance her way. She sat by herself at a booth and looked at the menu, trying to decide what to order.

Angry voices interrupted her musings.

"I need a drink, Ruby!" an angry man stood at the bar, shouting at the waitress on the other side. The red haired woman did not seem to be intimidated by the angry little man in the least bit.

"And I will be happy to give you one, Leroy, when you pay off the tab that you've built up." She said, leaning over the counter to be right in his face. It seemed like this was the kind of argument they had had before.

"When I get my next pay check, I'll pay it. Right not, just get me a drink!" he growled between clenched teeth.

"You've said that for the last few weeks. You're not getting anything until I see that money that you owe."

It looked like the argument was going to escalate when Belle interrupted.

"How much does he owe you?" she asked the waitress, who she knew as named Ruby in this world and Red in the old one. Both Ruby and Leroy looked at her oddly.

"$312." Ruby said after collecting her thoughts. Belle shook her head at the wonder of how much this man had drunk, but then reached into her pocket and pulled out four of the hundred bills and placed them on the counter. Ruby's eyes widened slightly, but she schooled her surprise and took the offered bills.

"Keep whatever's left. However many drinks that covers, there on me." she said with a smile. Ruby left to take care of the money, shaking her head at Belles strange actions.

"Why did you do that?" Leroy asked Belle, sounding almost accusing. Belle scoffed at his manners; what had happened to that happy love sick dwarf she had met so long ago.

"Because I wanted to. You remind me of someone I met once, and so I decided to help you out. Sorry if it wasn't wanted." She turned to go back to her booth. Ruby brought out a glass of whiskey for Leroy.

"Well, thanks I guess." He said grumpily before downing his drink.

After a few moments, Ruby came over to Belle's table.

"That was a really nice thing you did, paying his tab. Though fueling his drinking problem probably isn't the best idea." She said, sliding into the other seat across from Belle. Belle shrugged.

"Sometimes people just need a drink." She said, remembering that fact that she too had been drinking the first time she had met the dwarf.

"I'm Ruby, by the way." The other woman said. Belle grinned at the other woman's bubbly and welcoming personality.

"I'm Belle." she replied. Ruby grinned wolfishly at her, which wasn't really that strange considering that she _was_ a wolf.

"I already knew that. I saw you take down Regina yesterday." Belle turned slightly red from embarrassment. "You've basically become famous in town overnight. But I gotta tell you, it was pretty cool to see." Belle laughed once at the remark.

"It felt pretty good too." She admitted, making Ruby laugh.

"Is there anything I can get you? It's on the house this time." She said, pulling out her pad of paper.

"Um, some pancakes would be great, thanks." She said, surprised by the kind gesture.

"Sure thing." Ruby replied and took the order to the cook. It took a surprisingly short amount of time before there was a plate of fresh hot pancakes in front of Belle, which she ate with gusto.

She had almost finished the last pancake when the doors to the diner opened. Instinctively, she glanced up for a moment, and a piece of pancake seemed to get stuck in her throat. It was the leather jacket man from the day before, the one who had seemed far too interested in her. He noticed her stare and nodded at her, which made Belle drop her gaze back to her plate.

She still didn't know what it was, but something about the man made her uneasy, something more than just the lack of curse given information. The man took a table in the opposite corner from her and proceeded to strike up a conversation with Ruby, but somehow Belle knew he was still observing her.

She pushed her plate away from her, no longer having a desire to finish the food. She had an uneasy feeling in her stomach as she wondered if this strange man was working for Regina, even if he came from this world. If that was the case, she knew that it wasn't a good idea to be around him. Even if Regina was too afraid of Mr. Gold to make a move against her herself, it didn't mean that she wouldn't get someone else to.

Trying not to let her anxiety show, Belle got up and exited the diner, feeling the man's eyes on her every move. Once outside, she resisted the urge to break out into a dead run. Instead, she walked calmly away, ignoring the looks people gave her.

After a few minutes it was obvious that the stranger wasn't going to follow her, so her heart rate began to slow down. In fact, she started to feel a little silly for possibly overacting like that. But she couldn't shake the feeling that the man had stared at her as if trying to figure something out about her, something he wanted.

She banished all thought of the man out of her head; if he wanted something from her she would deal with him in time. Right now she just needed to concentrate on figuring out the town and people in it. She decided to just walk the town for now, getting her bearings of the place.

She had been walking down the streets for a few hours now, dipping into her curse given memories of this place to help her act as if it was all familiar to her, and not something new. It was an interesting sensation; to have what seemed like a story town in her mind filling in reality around her. It was all a little surreal, and quite a bit confusing. Belle still wasn't sure how she had been able to file away the information about Storybrooke, but she was grateful that she had.

As with before, every new face she saw jumped at her, providing her with the knowledge of who they were here, as well as who they had been in her world. And once again, it was starting to give her a terrible headache. There were just too many people.

To make the matter even worse, everyone she saw kept staring at her and giving her a wide berth as they walked around her. And while Belle had never enjoyed being locked away, she had almost grown used to being on her own, and the amount of people around her was almost suffocating.

Feeling the beginnings of panic starting to set in, Belle ducked into a shop before the urge to run away became too strong. She leaned against the closed door for a moment, sucking in deep breaths. She would have to take being around people slowly. As she took another deep breath, she recognized the smell in the shop.

Turning around, her eyes confirmed what she had already known. The entire store was filled with books; some were in order along bookshelves, but the majority of them were placed in haphazard piles and boxes around the floor. The slightly dusty smell of countless pages was one she could never forget.

A smile grew on her face as she picked herself carefully between the piles of books. She lightly ran her fingers over the covers or spines of various books, as gentle as a lover. When she was younger, she had thought that the collection of a few dozen books had been quite impressive, even if she had read through them all at least three times by the time she was 13. Then she had moved to the Dark Castle, and had seen Rumplestiltskins huge library. The first he had shown it to her, she was pretty sure that she had been reduced to a pile of giggling excitement. There was no way that this book store held as many books as his had, but it was still very large.

"Oh I'm terribly sorry." A disembodied voice spoke up, before an old man with a wild mane of white hair stuck his head around a pile of books. "I was in the back, and I didn't hear you come in." the man was wearing a diamond patterned sweater vest over a tucked in white dress shirt. Large glasses sat perked on the end of his nose, bringing attention to the countless wrinkles lining his face.

"I swear I have been working on trying to organize this place for years." The old man complained in a conversational way. Belle chuckled lightly at his joke, thinking that the man himself would never know exactly how long he had been working on it.

"I can't promise that anything would be easy to find, but I can try and locate something for you if you had something you wanted." He said. Belle smiled warmly at the man, who got the irrational idea that the store was lighter because of it.

"No I'm not looking for anything in particular. I just came back into town after being away for a long time, and I was re-familiarizing myself with everything. Yours just happened to be the first store I ducked into, which is a pleasant surprise on my part." Belle said, unable to resist running her fingers over another book. The older man smiled even wider.

"Ahh, a fellow lover of books, I see. There are far too few of us in town, I'm glad you made the decision to come back. I'm Malcolm by the way." He said, offering her his hand which she shook.

"Belle." she said simply, at ease around the old man. She took a long look around the shop.

"Why are there so many books in boxes still, and around the floor?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. Malcolm frowned.

"These are all the books from the old library. When the town shut it down, they all came here. I'm still trying to get them all organized, but it is a rather difficult job for one slow old man who more often than not ends up sitting are reading than cataloguing." Belle laughed at the image.

"I know exactly what you mean. With the library I worked in, my… employer often teased that the only way I got rid of any dust was with all the books that I moved to read." The old man's face glowed as he smiled.

"Oh you worked in a library?" he asked eagerly. Belle hesitated just a moment, trying to figure out how best to put it.

"Yes, a private library. The biggest I have ever seen though."

A gleam came into the man's eyes.

"Do you happen to have a job, Belle?" he asked. Belle shook her head and he smiled wider, revealing a few missing teeth. "Would you like one?" Belle gaped at him.

"You mean here, work for you?" she asked. Malcolm nodded.

"I that a pair of young hands around here would help get this place tided up much faster. I'm not as young as I like to think I am, and I can't always get out of the house to come to the store and it remains closed more often than opened. If you worked here, we could have regular hours again and could help customers a lot more. Not to mention, that if you worked here I'm sure that I would gain many young male customers." He said the last with a slight wink that made Belle blush, but inside she was glowing and her smile showed it.

"I'd love to. But are you sure? You don't even know me, and I haven't got the best reputation in town right now." Even though she wanted this job more than anything, she had to make sure that Malcolm knew what he was getting into. The old man waved aside her concerns.

"What you did, or did not do to the Mayor hardly matters. You obviously love books, which is the most important aspect for this job. And I feel like I can trust you not to attack me at random." He said with a wink. Belles smile grew and she couldn't help herself, and she threw her arms around the man.

"Thank you. This means so much to me." Malcolm patted her back as she said this, a very grandfatherly type action.

"You're welcome. How about you take a couple of days to get yourself resettled in town, and then stop by when you're all settled in. We can work out all the details of your work then, after you've had a chance to be home for a while."

"Thank you." Belle kept saying over and over as she exited the store. Belle was beaming and felt like she was probably glowing all over. She felt like her smile would split her face in half. She couldn't believe that she had a job already.

Even if her memories of this world weren't as complete as she would like them to, she knew that getting a job wasn't supposed to be that easy. She knew that it was supposed to be a long and grueling search, with a lot of headaches. But this was really, really easy. She wondered about it, but along with most everything else right now, she decided to just ignore it for right now.

"Alright, job down, now to just find a place to stay." She thought to herself as she continued walking down the street, still beaming away. She stopped waking for a second, and her smile faded a little.

"Where do I even look?" she wondered. She started to go through all the information in her head as she walked, trying to figure things out. With what was in her head, she knew that a newspaper or notice board would be the best place to start looking. She thought she remembered a notice board outside of Granny's, but she decided that a newspaper would probably be closer for right now.

She stopped one of the people walking by her and asked where the closest place to find a newspaper would be. The person seemed to be nervous talking to her at first, but they quickly relaxed and pointed her in the direction of a drug store. She thanked them and then walked over to the drug store.

Inside, Belle had to take a few minutes to explore the store and see all the different items for sale. She had no clue about what half of items were even for, and it made her curious to buy them all and figure it all out. It was also nice to know that the information in her head didn't tell her about everything, and that she would have an opportunity to learn things for herself.

She finally stopped gawking at everything and found her newspaper, The Storybrooke Daily Mirror. Belle had to laugh at that name; Regina really did have no concept of subtly. She went to the counter and plopped down another of her hundred dollar bills, embarrassed a little by how much more that was then what she needed.

Her pocket feeling much heavier with change now, Belle took her newspaper back outside and went to find a small park she had passed a while ago. It took her about half an hour to find it again, and then she sat down at a table and pulled out the paper.

She hadn't really looked at it when she bought it, and she was confronted by a bold headline proclaiming '**Prodigal Citizen Attacks Mayor'**. She smiled ruefully; news really did travel fast here. No wonder so many people knew about the altercation. Whatever, she really didn't care.

Instead of going straight to the real estate listings, Belle caught herself reading the entire newspaper with gusto. It had been too long since she had read anything, and she was entranced with every word. She paid only a little attention to the full page advertisement for a charity ball that was going to be held in a few weeks.

She finally made it to the section that she had bought the paper for, and found nothing. There wasn't a single listing under the 'For Rent' section. Belle flipped through the last few pages to make sure that she hadn't missed anything, but she still found nothing. She closed the paper with some disgust. She supposed that she shouldn't be surprised; the town had been frozen for 28 years with every person planned to be in a certain place.

Her stomach growled softy, bringing her attention to the fact that she was hungry. She knew that it would only take a few minutes to go back to the diner and she set out. Maybe after getting some lunch, she could inquire about a room at the B&B.

So absorbed in her thoughts, she wasn't looking where she was going and she walked into someone as they both turned toward the dinner. Luckily, both people kept their feet underneath them.

"Oh I am so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going." Belle apologized, her face red.

"It's no problem. I was distracted too." The other person, a soft spoken woman said. Belle looked at the woman properly for the first time and almost took a step back in mild shock. Standing before her was none other than Snow White. What really surprised Belle is that she looked almost exactly as she had always pictured the famous princess.

"Your Belle Brooks, aren't you?" She asked, a soft smile gracing her features. Belle smiled back, genuinely happy to finally met the woman who vexed Regina so much. Belle nodded, and Snow stuck out her hand.

"I'm Mary Margaret Blanchard." She said when Belle shook the offered hand.

"How did you know who I am? The paper didn't have a picture." Belle asked, curious. Mary Margaret smiled brighter at her.

"Emma's my roommate and told me all about what happened. She seemed to be pretty impressed with you." She said. Belle had to control her laugh at the idea that the unknown mother and daughter were roommates.

"Well you might not want to be seen talking with the '_violent and possibly mentally unstable returned citizen'_." Belle said, quoting the newspaper article.

"Nonsense." Mary Margaret said, shaking her head. "It was only a few days ago that I was in jail myself. Right now I really don't care about the opinions of people in this town."

Belle smiled. According to the things in her mind, Mary Margaret was supposed to be a shy, quite and nervous person. It was good to see that she had regained some of her Snow White spunk.

"Why were you in jail? If you don't mind me asking." Belle said quickly, silently cursing her curiosity. Mary Margaret simply laughed.

"Not at all, you're probably going to hear about it sooner or later anyways. I was framed for a murder that never actually happened."

"Well that's…. Interesting." Belle said, slightly confused. Mary Margaret laughed again. She tilted her head slightly to the side to consider the other woman.

"I'm meeting Emma here for lunch, would you care to join us? While we wait for her to show up, I can fill you in on everything you've missed." Belle smiled and readily agreed.

When they entered the diner, both woman got a big smile from Ruby and the sat at a booth and waited for Emma to show up. Belle was silently glad that the stranger was no longer there. While they waited, Mary Margaret told Belle all about Katharine Nolan's disappearance and faked murder and how she had been blamed.

It surprised Mary Margaret how easy it was to talk to Belle about all these things, and how much she shared with the practical stranger. She even told Belle about how she had had an affair with David Nolan, and that was the reason she was suspected.

"So you think it was Regina who set you up?" Belle asked after the story was done.

"I know it was Regina." a new voice said. Both women glanced up too see Emma walking toward them. She slid into the seat beside Mary Margaret.

"The only trouble is that I don't have any proof to nail her with." She finished bitterly. "Hello again, Belle." she said as way of greeting.

"I invited her to lunch with us. I hope you don't mind." Mary Margaret said. Emma shook her head.

"Nope. Anyone who takes a swing at Regina is ok in my books." Emma said, taking a drink from the glass of water Ruby brought over for her.

"So Regina framed you." Belle said, bringing back the previous conversation to stop herself from smiling foolishly at the mother/daughter duo. "That really doesn't surprise me."

"Yeah and I think Mr. Gold was in on it too, somehow." Emma said, carefully watching Belle's reaction, who on her part kept her features schooled into neutrality. Honestly, the idea didn't surprise her; the set up had seemed far too subtle for Regina to create on her own. She just wondered what he got out it in return.

"Speaking of Mr. Gold, I expected you to be slaving away cleaning that monstrosity he calls a house, not sitting here drinking coco." Emma said, trying to find more information about what was exactly between this stranger and the pawnbroker.

"He's given me a few days to settle down before I start work. You know, find a place to stay and all of that." Belle said, trying to brush it off as nothing. Both other woman looked almost startled.

"That sounds almost kind." Mary Margaret murmured. Belle bristled slightly at the unsaid accusation against Mr. Gold; she had never liked it when other people spoke badly of him. Luckily she hid her feelings before they could be seen.

"Where's all your stuff?" Emma asked, ever the practical one. Belle thought quickly for a suitable explanation as to why she had nothing.

"I sold a lot of my things before I came back. And then what I did have was lost during my flight. I wasn't too worried about it, I thought I still had some things here , as well as a place to stay." She said, trying to get the right tone in her words.

"Oh that's terrible." Mary Margaret said. Belle shrugged.

"I was looking for a place to stay, but there doesn't seem to be any available places in town. I was going to ask for a room at the B&B after lunch." She continued. Emma shook her head.

"The town has a 'no felons' policy, which I'm sure Regina would remind Granny of as soon as you even looked for a room. Trust me on that." She said. Belle's shoulders slumped. Great, what was she supposed to do now? Emma's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Where did you stay last night?" she questioned. Belle looked up in surprise. While she had thought nothing of staying the night at Gold's, she was sure that anyone else would not see it the same way as her. Emma say the answer in Belle not saying anything and she looked disgusted. Belle blushed red.

"Why don't you stay with us? At least until you can find something more permanent." Emma said. Mary Margaret looked at her friend quickly, a little shocked that she had been the one to offer. Emma gave her a look and Mary Margaret quickly smiled and turned back to Belle.

"Yeah, there's a spare room that you can have. It's not that big, but it should work." She added quickly.

Belle was surprised. She didn't know what to think about being offered a place to stay so quickly.

"Are you sure?" she said, repeating the same words that she had at the store. "I don't want to be a trouble." Both other woman quickly shook their heads, both internally mystified that they were opening their home to a stranger. But both instinctively trusted her.

"It's no trouble at all. And I haven't gone back to the school yet, so I can help you buy everything you're going to need and help get your room set up." Mary Margaret offered, already sounding exited by the idea.

"Yeah and we're throwing a small party tomorrow night. That will help you get to know more of the people in town." Emma added. By this time Belle was beaming at their kindness.

"Thank you. This means a lot to me." she said. Emma shrugged, slightly uncomfortable at the gratitude.

"Yeah, well anything to get you away from Mr. Gold." she said. Suddenly a hush fell over the crowded dinner, and all heads, including Belle's turned towards the door. Standing there was Mr. Gold himself.

"Speak of the devil." Emma muttered. Judging by everyone's reactions, Belle figured that Gold rarely came into the dinner. His gaze settled on her, and he walked deliberately over to their table. Belle fought down her smile.

"Ah, Ms. Brooks. I was hoping to run into you again. How are you settling back into our fair town?" he asked, his voice just a little too loud. Belle tried to act scared of him, she really did, but even to herself it seemed like a weak effort.

"Good, thank you. I've just found a place to stay." She said, trying to make her voice soft and careful, even if she wanted to laugh at how obvious he was being, at least to her. Gold raised an eyebrow, feigning no more interest in her than anyone else.

"Yeah, she'll be staying with us." Emma came in defiantly. Gold's gaze darted between the three women, and then the corner of his mouth quirked up in a semi-predatory smile. It took Belle great effort not to smile in return; she could easily guess what he was thinking.

"Excellent. Than you can start work for me that much sooner." He addressed this back to Belle. "Ms. Blanchard, Sheriff. Good day." He said, leaving the dinner. Emma shook her head.

"That man gives me the creeps." Mary Margaret said. Belle nodded, pretending to agree with her while inside she was laughing hysterically. She really hoped that his act hadn't been as clear to everyone else as it had to her; the moment he had stepped into the dinner Belle knew that he was silently 'informing' the town that Belle was under his protection, and that no one should make the smallest of moves against her, even if it were for Regina. It seemed that even in this world, while everyone was afraid of Regina, they were more terrified of him.

Turning her attention back to her new roommates, Belle silently thought the same thing that Gold had when he had half smiled, her own mouth curling upwards a bit. The three women that the Queen hated most all living under one roof; this should be interesting.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: **_Alrightly, here's chapter 6! Thanks to everyone for all the comments, favorites and followers. It means a lot to me, and I don't want to disappoint you. I don't know if I said it before, but I am playing with the timeline a lot in this fanfic. It starts just after Katharine was found alive, but most of the events of The Return have not taken place. But to keep the story going correctly, I used some things that happened in that episode, but out of order according to the show. Anyowhos… enjoy!_

_Chapter 6_

Belle stood looking at herself in her new full sized mirror that Mary Margaret had insisted that she buy. The room they had given her wasn't that big, with only a few feet between the wall and her bed. There was a small closest set into the one wall, and the bed itself had shelves underneath it for all the rest of her clothes. The mirror hung on the back of the door, reflecting the window on the other side of the room, making it appear larger than it was. Belle as sure that if the room had been windowless, she never would have been able to deal with the claustrophobia, but as it was she knew she could keep a handle on it.

After lunch had ended the day before, Mary Margaret had wasted no time in going and buying what seemed to Belle to be the entire town. She had been really glad for her new friends enthusiasm for getting everything needed, as Belle had little clue as to what most of the things were. The entire time she had wished that the curse had given her more specific memories.

Along with all the necessary items that she had bought, Mary Margaret insisted that Belle buy a completely new wardrobe as well. Luckily, it was fairly easy for Belle to find clothes that she liked and that fit her well, and Mary Margaret had gushed over each new outfit.

She had been trying to decide on an outfit to wear to the joint 'Glad you're out of jail/Welcome Belle' party that was supposed to start soon when she had become distracted when she had glanced in the mirror. Faint white scars crisscrossed all over her body, most on her legs, stomach, shoulders and on her back as well she was certain.

She lightly traced them with her fingers, unbidden memories of how each one came ended up on her body coming into her mind. The long thin one on her right side had been when the clerics had been using an almost wire thin blade to cut deeply into her side, almost to the point of hitting organs. On her shoulders and back where the feint marks of red hot coals pressed onto her bare skin. Her legs told the tale of how they had poured potions on her that had made her flesh bubble and melt.

The vivid memories brought with them waves of nausea that threatened to make Belle throw up. She remembered the long weeks of torture she endured at the hands of clerics and they demanded information she never gave. Every time they were done inflicting pain on her, they had healed all the damage they had done with magic. Belle didn't know why they had done that, or why now in the land without magic the scars would appear.

The most notable scar was the one on her chest, directly over her heart. The five points placed finger widths apart was a cruel reminder that she didn't need. No matter what she did, she could never forget how the Queen had reached into her heart to squeeze her beating heart. She could still feel the woman's nails scraping over the muscle and the cold, bitter magic that had almost caused more pain than the hand itself.

Belle forcibly pushed the memories away with a shudder and concentrated her whole mind on choosing something to wear. In the end she settled on a light grey sweater and simple jeans. She left her hair down, brushing it just right so that her curls just brushed the top of her shoulders. Feeling the need to escape, she practically ran out of her room and down the stairs to where Emma and Mary Margaret were getting things set up.

Well, Mary Margaret was working at getting the place organized. Emma sat at the table having an animated conversation with a small boy. The boy was gesturing wildly and was very intense with what he was saying, and Emma just replied to his question with a loving smile and shake of her head. Mary Margaret was smiling as well at the boys antics. So this must be Henry, Belle thought as she came down the stairs.

When the boys eyes saw her, he stopped talking and looked as if he was caught talking about something embarrassing. Emma turned around and smiled at her and Belle caught sight of a book on the table between them.

"Hey Belle. Meet Henry, he's my son." Emma said, and Henry stood to shake her hand very seriously.

"Hi." He said, grinning from ear to ear. Belle smiled back at him, she had always liked kids. "How long have you really been in Storybrooke?" he asked. Belle was a little taken back by the question.

"Henry!" Emma reprimanded quickly before Belle could reply. Henry looked a little chastened, but there was also a look about him that made Belle think that he wasn't going to let it stop him.

"Sorry about that. He thinks that you've actually been in town a lot longer than you have. He's trying to make things fit into his fairy tale theory." Emma explained. Henry shot her a dirty look.

"What? She's living here, she's going to learn about Operation Cobra sooner or later." Emma told him. He gave a world weary sigh that sounded hilarious coming out of a 10 year old.

"It's just the curse." Henry explained, turning back to Belle. "You just think you got back into town now, but really you've been here for the past 28 years. Its either that or you remember everything, and just made up that bit about where you were." He finished, looking at her shrewdly as if he could tell the truth just from looking at her. Behind him, Emma was shaking her head and silently mouthing 'sorry, just play along'.

Belle laughed and smiled at the boy.

"Well that sounds like a truly terrible fate to deal with." She said, while she was thinking that this kid was actually pretty smart. He shrugged.

"Well it's called a curse for a reason." He said simply. Emma's eyes widened slightly at her sons behaviour, but all Belle wanted to do was laugh.

"And what exactly is this curse about anyways?" she asked, sitting next to Henry at the table. He grinned widely at the idea of telling someone else the truth, and Emma smiled in gratitude at Belle for playing along. He pulled the book over closer to them, and Belle saw the title Once Upon a Time embossed on the cover.

"Everything that is in this book actually happened." He said, opening it up and flipping through a few pages. "The Evil Queen cast a curse that brought all the fairy tale characters here, to Storybrooke and stole all you're happy endings. And none of you remember who you really are. Emma is the savior, and she's going to break the curse." He said looking at his mom with utter adoration.

"And who are you? Let me guess, Peter Pan?" Belle asked, pulling the name from a boy she had seen on the street. She hated pretending that she didn't believe him, but she doubted it would go over well for anyone is she started telling them it was all true.

"I was born here, so I'm not in the book." Henry explained it as if to someone who was just a little too slow. "But Mary Margaret is Snow White, and Emma's her daughter." He finished. Both of the said women shared a long suffering look.

Belle took the book from Henry and flipped through a few of the pages, skimming some of the stories. Fairy tales he had called them, which seemed silly to her. Who would want stories about fairies, they were boring. All fairies ever did was sprinkle dust and occasionally grant a few wishes.

"So who am I?" she asked. She wondered who had created the book. For the first time, Henry's face fell.

"I haven't figured that out yet." He admitted.

"You don't think she's Belle from Beauty and the Beast?" Emma asked, gently teasing her son. Belle blinked; Beauty and the Beast?

"No that would be way too obvious." He said, shaking his head. "The Evil Queen is smart enough not to give someone their true name." Belle could have argued that point.

"Besides, I don't think that story actually happened." He added. Emma looked confused.

"Why not?"

"It's not in the book. And if it were true, it would be. I think Disney just made it up." He said. Belle was getting confused by all the references that she wasn't getting. Beauty and the Beast? Disney? Somehow these things weren't in her memories.

Unfortunately, Mary Margaret noticed her confused look and correctly interpreted it.

"You know the Disney cartoons. Beauty and the Beast, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves." She prompted Belle. A little embarrassed, Belle just shook her head no. Mary Margaret, and even Emma, looked a little scandalized.

"You've never seen any of the Disney classics?" she asked.

"Nope." Belle said, trying to fight her blush away.

"Well, we'll just have to fix that." Mary Margaret said matter of factely.

Luckily further conversation was stopped by a knock at the door. Emma stood to answer it.

"That would be the first of the guests. No more fairy tale talk, from anyone." She warned with a fake stern look at each of them in turn.

The first guests turned out to be Ruby and Granny, each laden down with platters of food they had brought from the dinner. Belle had already met Ruby, and she introduced Belle to Granny. Belle had to stifle a laugh at the fact that Granny's fairy tale counterpart was, Granny.

Soon after they arrived, the rest of the guests came. Emma or Mary Margaret answered the door and introduced Belle to each person who entered. She really hoped that there wasn't going to be that many people coming, a headache was already developing.

But she smiled and greeted everyone she met, even though after the obvious check out by Dr. Whale she felt like washing her hand and putting on even more layers of clothing. Another knock on the door distracted her from trying to wipe her hands on a cloth discreetly. As Emma opened the door, Mary Margaret leaned in to whisper to Belle.

"Sorry, we had to invite him. He was my lawyer after all." She said as way of an apology. Mr. Gold walked into the room, looking decidedly uncomfortable among all the happy people. He caught Belles eye for a brief moment, and then turned and walked away from the crowd. Belle had to force herself to stay where she was, and she felt the twinge of unease as she turned her back to him and started to converse with those near her.

After a few minutes passed while Belle tried to keep occupied with those she was talking to, even if it was the leering Dr. Whale. But she kept finding herself stealing glances toward Gold out of the corner of her eye. He seemed to be totally engrossed in looking at the small knick knacks around the apartment, but once or twice she was sure that he was looking over at her as well, his hand tighter around his cane than normal.

Finally she couldn't take it any longer. She polity excused herself from the Doctor, and walked over to the counter and poured a glass of punch. It was a good an excuse as any to go over to Mr. Gold. She had started to head over in his direction when the door opened, almost knocking into her.

"Sorry." A deep voice called out, and then the mysterious leather jacket man came into the room, closing the door behind him. Seeing that it was Belle, he grinned as if he had a great secret and was trying to be smooth about it. The uneasy feeling was still there as she looked at him.

"Hi there." He said, and Belle thought he was trying too hard to be mysterious. Emma had grinned when she saw the new arrival and came over.

"This is August W. Booth, the W included." She told Belle, laughing slightly at an inside joke. She was smiling warmly at him.

"August, this is Belle. She just got back into town, and she's our new roommate." Emma introduced her. All Belled could do was to give a curt nod.

"Then I guess I'll be seeing a lot more of you, Belle." he said. The way he said her name sent unpleasant shivers down her spine. She was glad when he allowed Emma to lead him away further in the room. Compelled to keep an eye of him, she turned and watched their departure.

She felt, more than heard, someone come up behind her. It was a warm and familiar presence.

"Are you alright?" Mr. Gold asked, his voice low. Judging by how clearly she heard him, she knew he was standing close to her. She wanted to lean back into his embrace as she once had at the Dark Castle, but remembering her surroundings kept her where she was. Instead she turned to face him, smiling softly at the idea that he would be the only one to notice her discomfort around August.

"Yeah I guess. It's just that man… he makes me uneasy." She explained. Gold instantly glared daggers at August's back. "But I'm sure it's just because I don't know who he is. He's not from our world?" she asked.

Mr. Gold shook his head. "I don't know. I've been too busy with other things to check into him." But that was going to change soon, he thought to himself.

"Other things like kidnapping Katharine Nolan and framing Mary Margaret for Regina?" she asked quietly so no one else would hear, a hint of reproach in her voice. He looked startled.

"Oh please. I know that Regina is nowhere near clever enough to make a plot that subtle." He looked at his shoes, uncomfortably aware that she was the only one that could possibly make him feel like this.

"Did you do it just to mess with Regina?" Belle asked, her laughing tone brining his attention back to her. Now he was really confused.

"You're not angry with me?" he asked. Belle shrugged, and took a sip of the punch that had meant to be his.

"Only a little. And no one was harmed, or killed, which is a little surprising I confess." Well there was another of his recent sins crossed off the list.

"But why did you do it?" she pressed the question. "Was it just to screw with Regina, or was there another reason?"

Gold was going to answer when his gaze flicked behind her, and then back to her, silently warning her. Without looking around, she knew that Emma must have seen them and was walking this way.

"Now that you're settled in, Ms. Brooks, I expect you to start working for me as soon as possible." He said smoothly, as if all they had been discussing was when she would start being his housekeeper. She nodded, playing along with his deception.

"Of course. I'll stop by your house first thing tomorrow morning, and you can tell me what you want done." she said, her voice steady.

By this time Emma was by Belles side, glaring daggers at the pawnbroker.

"Demanding your slave labour already?" she asked viciously. Belle had to bite her tongue to stop herself from coming to his defence. Mr. Gold just smiled his smug smirk.

"You know perfectly well that its a deal, dear. Ms. Brooks is not doing anything she didn't agree to."

Knowing that the two were going to end up in an argument that she wouldn't be able to stay out of, Belle interrupted their glares.

"Emma, I'm just going to step outside for a moment. Get some air." She told her friend. Emma nodded at her, and as she turned to walk out she caught Gold's eye.

Belle quickly ducked out of the room, glad to be away from the noise and people. She leaned against the wall, and took deep breaths. She knew that she was supposed to be acting afraid of Mr. Gold, and not seeking out his company at a party.

She shook her head. Screw that idea, it was never going to work anyways. No way could she ever pretend to be afraid of Mr. Gold, so she decided that there wasn't going to be point in trying anymore. And if anyone didn't like it, tough.

She was broken out of her inner dialogue by the sounds of footsteps on the stairs. A handsome tall, slightly blond man came up the stairs. Prince Charming, her mind shouted her. Knowing this, Belle figured that he was also the David that Mary Margaret had told her about. She pushed herself away from the wall when he got to the top landing.

"Hi." He said, seeming to not know exactly what he was supposed to do.

"Hello. I'm Belle." she said, offering him her hand. He smiled as the name clicked.

"Right, you're the one who attacked Regina." His face fell as he realized how that must have sounded.

"Sorry, that's not what I meant." He tried to apologize. Belle raised her eyebrow. Charming? Really?

"No its ok, I'm sure that's how most people will see me for a while." She said.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, desperate to move on from his stupid statement.

"I live here." Belle said, gesturing to the door behind her. "Emma and Mary Margaret offered me the spare room, at least for a while." David nodded his understanding.

"So why are you out here, and not in the party?" he asked.

"I needed some air." She replied. He nodded again.

"Well, I'm gonna…" he said, not being able to finish the sentence as the door was opened. Henry and Emma were at the door.

"Hey, Henry." David said, looking down at the boy. "Leaving already?"

"Yeah, I gotta get home and do homework." The boy replied. With David's attention on Henry, Emma turned to look around into the apartment. Belle figured she was telling Mary Margaret he was here. Emma turned back to David.

"She's kinda tired." She said. His face fell. "I think if you just give it some time…"

"But I just wanted too…" David began but Emma cut him off.

"Hey, Henry, why don't you head home with David?" she asked. The little boy looked thrilled.

"Ok." He said. David glanced between the son and mother.

"Sorry." Emma told him. He sighed, and tried to get one last look into the room before muttering Ok. He turned to leave, nodding goodbye at Belle, who felt a little like she had intruded.

"Bye Belle." Henry called as he walked down the stairs. Emma and Belle shared a look that spoke of each other's discomfort to be caught in the middle of the drama between Mary Margaret and David.

"I think I'm going to come back in now." Belle said pointlessly, more for wanting to say something than actually needing too. Emma nodded and both women rejoined the party.

Belle's heart was racing, and her jaw was clamped shut to keep the cries from escaping. She did not want to give the clerics the satisfaction of knowing how much pain they caused her. The one holding the red hot piece of iron pressed it harder into the skin of her arm.

"Enough." A second cleric said, and the first removed the iron. Belle braced herself as she felt magic condense in the room before settling on her skin to heal her. A sharp gasp escaped her lips as the magic healed her; it felt cold and bitter, and hurt more than anything the clerics had done to her. It felt like it almost was attacking something a warm and comforting presence deep within her. For a second she thought she saw the shadowy outline of the Queens laughing face.

Belle didn't understand why the clerics were doing this; they weren't even asking her any questions this time. They were only torturing her.

She was brought back to what was happening by the sound of hissing water. She saw that they had just emptied a bottle of something into a pot of water. Whatever was in the potion had made the water bubble and smoke, and somehow Belle knew that the water now contained acid.

Her breathing quickened as they lifted the pot, walking steadily toward her, careful not to touch the water themselves. She was shaking against her restraints, trying uselessly to pull herself free. They stopped within a foot from her, and threw the deadly water at her face.

Belle bolted upright in her bed, gasping as if her lungs had been filled with the burning water. Pain throbbed in her chest and she placed her hand against her heart with a groan. Her fingertips brushed the scar of the Queens hand, and Belle hissed in pain at the flash of sharp pain.

She ran her hands over her arms, checking to see if any new scars had appeared in her sleep. She let out a breath of relief at discovering nothing new. She put her head in her hands as she tried to slow her breathing. The nightmare had felt more real than anything Belle had ever experienced before; it was real enough to actually feel and smell the iron burning her skin.

Her first thought was that it was probably just a memory coming back to haunt her. But then she realized that while all those events had actually happened to her, they were never at one moment. And the clerics had always hounded her with endless questions, they were never silent.

Her mind to troubled to fall back asleep, she left her room to go get a drink. She didn't turn on any lights in the hopes that she wouldn't wake up her roommates, but as she got to the stairs she saw that a light was on downstairs. She wondered if Mary Margaret had decided to clean up from the party that night after all.

But it wasn't Mary Margaret she found sitting at the kitchen table, it was Emma. The blonde woman was leaning with her elbows on the table, a bottle of whiskey next to her glass. Her leather jacket was laid on the back of her chair. She looked up at Belle came down the stairs.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." She said, staring back into her glass. Belle went and got another glass before coming around the other side of the table and sitting down.

"You didn't it." Belle said, "I couldn't sleep." She pulled the whiskey to her and poured her own glass. She downed the liquid quickly, enjoying how the burning chased away the lingering pain. Emma watched her down the glass with mild concern.

"Are you ok?" she asked, briefly wondering if Gold had done something to the other woman at the party before she had interrupted them. Belle shook her head ruefully.

"Bad dreams." She said simply, not wanting to elaborate. Emma nodded her understanding, she was no stranger to that herself.

"Why are you still up?" Belle asked. With that said, all of Emma's irritation came back in full force and she poured herself another drink.

"I got called into the sheriff's station, so I could hear a _confession _about Katherine Nolan's abduction." She said, sounding utterly disgusted. Belle closed her eyes and sighed.

"Who did she get?" she asked. If Emma was surprised that Belle could guess that Regina hadn't been the one to confess, she didn't show it.

"Sydney Glass. I knew the man would do anything for her, but going as far admitting to kidnapping and a frame job… He must really love her, as sick as that is." Emma said, downing the drink.

Belle wondered who Sydney had really been. With him being that loyal to Regina, there was only a handful of people he could have been. But she dismissed it, knowing now that she would never know.

"That woman is a psychopath." Emma continued. "If she thinks I'm letting my son stay with her a second longer, she is crazy." Belle looked at her in surprise.

"You're going to take Henry from her?" she asked, suddenly worried about her new friend. Emma didn't know what Regina was capable of when she thought someone was going to take away the thing she loved.

"I'm gonna get Gold to be my lawyer. He's the only one who can win against her." Belle nodded; if Emma was going to do this, she would need more help from Gold than she knew.

"Have you told Mary Margaret?" she asked instead of voicing any of the thoughts in her head. Emma shook her head.

"She was sleeping when I got home, and nothing can wake her up once she's out. Besides it can wait till morning."

Both women remained silent for a few minutes, absorbed in their own thoughts.

"Oh." Belle said, breaking the silence between them. "I wanted to apologize about how I acted when we first met." Emma cocked her eyebrow.

"You mean when I had to pull you off Regina, or at the station?" she joked. Belle laughed softly.

"At the station. I was being difficult and rude because I was angry. You were just doing your job, and I shouldn't have taken it out on you. I'm sorry." She said. Emma shrugged.

"It doesn't matter. I have a habit of meeting people in this town in really odd ways." She said, brushing it aside, her face smiling and bright. "In fact I was behind those same bars when I met Graham…" her smile faded and a dark pain came into her eyes. Anyone who hadn't gone through the same sort of pain wouldn't notice the look.

"You really miss him, don't you?" Belle said softly. Emma didn't respond, but just stared stonily into her drink.  
"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, just know that you can talk to me if you want to. I miss him too, and I know what it's like to lose someone you cared a great deal about. Sometimes talking does make it a little easier."

Belle didn't know if it was because of what she said, or how late it was, or if all the whiskey she had had to drink, but Emma seemed to deflate a little. Her shoulder slumped, and when she looked up a Belle, she could see that the sheriffs walls her down, even if just by a little bit.

"He was just gone. One second he was right there with me, he…" her voice broke off in a choke. "And then he was gone. There was nothing I could do." She looked at Belle, tears in her eyes. She reached across the table and took the other woman's hand.

"He had just figured things out." she continued, looking past Belle. "He ended things with Regina, for himself even though she was certain he did it for me."

Emma didn't notice Belle's sharp intact of breath. So that's why Regina had done it, he refused her. Belles heart broke all over again for Graham; not even remembering who he really was he had stood up to Regina and she had killed him for it. Rage bubbled back into her, making her blood boil.

"He said he remembered." Emma's small whisper brought Belles mind back from her bloodlust.

"What?" Emma glanced sharply at Belle, as if remembering that she was there for the first time. Belle wasn't sure she was going to tell her, and she squeezed Emma's hand, letting her know it was ok.

"I kissed him." she confessed. "I kissed him, and he said that he remembered. The only thing I can think that he meant was that he remembered what it was like to feel something."

Belle knew that wasn't what he meant. He had meant that he _remembered!_ It was the only thing that made sense. And if he remembered, that would mean that for him, the curse was broken. And the only thing powerful enough to break any curse was true love. Belle felt her eyes well up and her heart broke all over again, this time for Emma as well as Graham.

"Have you talked to anybody about this before?" she asked, her own voice thick with emotion. Emma scoffed.

"I don't need to see a shrink, even if it is Archie."

"You haven't even talked to Mary Margaret about it?" Belle pushed, wondering why Emma had chosen to confess all this to her. Emma ducked her head.

"The whole thing with David started soon after that, and she was under enough stuff already. I couldn't…" she let the sentence drift away, not being able to explain it good enough. Belle nodded, letting Emma know that she didn't need to try.

"Well I'm glad he had you." She had to fight to make the words come out. "When I knew him, he was afraid that he would never find someone he truly cared for. He always seemed a little envious that I had that, even if he couldn't understand it."

Emma looked at her, her head slightly to the side.

"Is that who you lost?" she asked. Belle nodded, cursing herself for getting caught up in the moment and the emotion and letting slip that about her past.

"Yeah." She said, trying to think of a way to tell her friend the truth while still keeping it in this world. She wouldn't lie to Emma right now, not when she was this vulnerable.

"I was told he had died, and I thought my father had done…" she stopped, the emotions she had felt when Regina had told her the tale coming back, even though she now knew it was a lie.

"Was that the difficult time Graham helped you get through?" Emma asked, mentioning what Belle had said in the cemetery. Belle half smiled, and let out a huff.

"No. Not even Graham could help me then. That's when I left." She said. It was Emma's turn to squeeze her hand.

"I'm sorry." She said. Belle nodded her thanks, and then brushed away the tears from her eyes.

"I should probably be getting some sleep. I start working for Mr. Gold tomorrow, as well as at the shop." Belle said, meaning to give herself a reason to leave before she ended up saying more than she should. Emma frowned.

"Speaking of Gold." she said, preventing Belle from leaving the room. "What's with you two?"

"What do you mean?" Belle responded, hoping that her pounding heart wasn't audible. She gave Belle a sharp look.

"I heard how he said your name. And he's gone to all this trouble, for _you_. What is he really getting out of you?" she asked. Belle smiled at Emma's concern.

"Nothing more than what you see." She said, getting up from the table. Emma followed after her and stood in her way.

"Belle, I already think of you as a friend. I hope you see me the same."

"Of course I do." She said, not sure where Emma was going with this.

"And I'm also the sheriff. Now I know Gold, and if he's doing anything you don't want him to, or if you don't want this deal of his, I can deal with it for you."

"Thank you, but that's not necessary. I wanted to make this deal with him Emma." Belle said, half enjoying the incredulous look on her friends face. "He's only looking out for me, protecting me. Don't worry, I trust him."

And with that, Belle went back to her room, ignoring the confused look Emma gave her.

It took a while to fall back asleep, and when she did, the nightmares started again.


End file.
